Electricity consumption in France continues to fall

The government has called for sobriety this winter amid supply difficulties related, in part, to corrosion problems in parts of the French nuclear fleet. And the French seem to have heard the message, even if the moderate temperatures have something to do with it. Indeed, France’s electricity consumption continues to fall, falling by 7.4% last week compared to the previous years’ (2014-2019) average in the same week, according to the latest data from network manager RTE released on Tuesday. evening.

This figure is published after adjusting for calendar and meteorological effects: therefore, this is the consumption that would occur if temperatures were equalized with normal temperatures for that period.

Thus, it is possible to identify structural fluctuations in consumption from year to year, in addition to the influence of weather conditions, explains RTE. These structural variations result, for example, from variations in economic activity or sobriety activities. Over the past four weeks, the average structural decline has reached 8.7%.

However, the rate of decline slowed last week (-7.4% vs. -8.1% the previous week), according to the calculation “excluding years with too different calendar configurations (the position of Christmas causes the consumption of the whole week)”, indicates the power grid manager .

moderate temperatures

RTE attributed the slowdown to reduced potential for additional energy savings for individuals and companies in the tertiary sector, as warmer temperatures reduced heating-related electricity consumption.

During the past week, temperatures “were well above seasonal average, with a positive difference reaching 8.2°C on Friday 23 December,” he stresses.

On December 20, the operator of the high and extra-high voltage lines lowered the risk of a voltage occurrence in the electrical network in January from “high” to “medium”, taking into account the efforts of sobriety and the restart of several nuclear reactors.