From August 1, electricity bills will be modified to comply with European rules. A change of taxes will impact all French consumers.
For years, electricity bills in France have been calculated with VAT reduced to 5.5 % on the subscription, against 20 % on consumption. This double -rate system will soon be only a memory. From August 1, 2025, a single rate of 20 % will apply to all the components of the invoice, including the fixed share linked to the subscription. A decision motivated by the need to respect European law, which prohibits this mixture of rate for a single service.
The change could have caused a clear increase for all homes. But to limit the effects on the household budget, the government has decided to play on other tax levers.
The excise, a tax on electricity consumption, will thus drop from 33.70 to 29.98 euros per megawatt hour. For its part, the Turpe-that is to say the price which finances the routing networks-will also decrease, by the order of 2.5 %. These adjustments were validated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), which wished to guarantee overall stability of the regulated prices.
In fact, the price of the kilowatt hour (kWh) will go from 0.2016 euros to 0.1952 euros including tax. This means that households that consume a lot will see their invoice decrease, because the drop on the energy consumed will largely compensate for the increase linked to the subscription. Conversely, infergivoric households will see a slight increase, the fixed share representing for them a larger part of the total.
According to CRE calculations, an average family consuming 4,400 kWh per year should see its annual bill go from 1,050 to 1,046 €, a lowercase drop of 4 euros. But if you heat your accommodation with electricity, especially with a heat pump, you should save much more.
For users, there is no approach to undertake. These adjustments will be automatically applied, whether you are at the regulated rate or at an alternative supplier. However, it may be useful to compare market offers in the coming weeks, as some suppliers could readjust their prices differently.
Even if the evolution remains technical, it shows how the price of electricity depends on a fragile balance between taxation, regulation and real cost of production. In this moving landscape, keeping an eye on your consumption is the best way to keep control of your bill.