There were over a million calls for unpaid energy bills in 2023, an increase of 3%.

Faced with inflation, which remains high, and rising energy costs, paying energy bills is becoming increasingly difficult for the poorest households. France has reached the milestone of one million measures to recover unpaid electricity bills in 2023, more than a quarter of which resulted in cuts, the national energy intermediary said on Friday.

The number of interventions increased by 3% compared to 2022 and even by 49% compared to 2019. This is the highest level since the independent government body recorded them in 2015.

Out of a total of 1,000,908 interventions last year, there were “178,000 power outages and almost 87,300 gas outages,” according to mediator Olivier Chaland Belleval, whose mission is to offer amicable solutions to disputes with companies in the sector and to inform their. energy consumers about their rights.

For “minimal access to electricity”

Suppliers are increasingly resorting to power restrictions rather than hard cuts due to changes in some of their practices as well as regulations.

In his press release, Olivier Chaland Belleval calls for “renewed minimum access to electricity”, which consists of “banning blackouts due to unpaid bills for everyone throughout the year and replacing them with meter capacity limits.” “

Currently, cuts are only prohibited during the winter holidays, from November 1 to March 31. From February 2023, new rules require that outside the winter holidays and in the case of unpaid bills, suppliers require electricity check or housing solidarity fund beneficiaries to have their electricity capped before or after a cut-off.