Gauthier Delomez 2:00 p.m., November 12, 2021

The energy giant EDF will no longer cut off electricity to customers who cannot pay their bills, including outside the winter period.

On Europe 1, the director of individual customers of EDF advance a measure of "solidarity" while energy prices have soared in recent days.

A gesture for people in precarious situations. The EDF group announced Friday that it will no longer cut off electricity to individuals who cannot pay their bills, and this all year round and not only during the winter break. A measure demanded by associations fighting against precariousness, which the group will apply from April 1, 2022. Instead, the electrician will reduce the electrical power of households. They will still be able to operate their essential equipment - refrigerator, lighting - but they will not be able to heat themselves. “At a time when energy prices are rising, it is a measure of solidarity,” says Fabrice Gourdellier, director of individual customers of EDF on Europe Midi.

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Consumption that remains "due and invoiced"

Concretely, Fabrice Gourdellier explains on Europe 1 that "electricity consumption remains due and is invoiced".

Limiting energy output will also remain "a measure of last resort", he warns.

"When a customer has payment difficulties, it is essential to be able to support them as early as possible. And this is what we have always done", adds the director of personal customers of the energy giant, judging the net power cut "more penalizing" than the reduction in power.

This announcement did not come out of a hat, as Fabrice Gourdellier explains.

"We tried to favor this power limitation over the closed cut for the past five years (...). During the health crisis last year, we extended a winter break until September 1. We have found that customers who face a cut or a limitation react in the same way, "he emphasizes.

A measure that should not relieve customers' responsibility: "A power limitation is restrictive, it's a life discomfort. Customers need all of their use of electricity."