The soaring energy prices never end.

In France, where elections will be held in just under three months, Emmanuel Macron's government is very concerned.

According to recent surveys, purchasing power remains the most important issue for citizens in the country - ahead of social security, internal security and immigration.

Niklas Zaboji

Economic correspondent in Paris

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To keep their electricity costs from skyrocketing, the government is now stepping up its efforts. The state energy company EDF is to be instructed to sell even larger quantities of nuclear power to competitors at a state-regulated price. In agreement with the EU Commission, it should now be 120 instead of 100 terawatt hours this year. At around 46 euros per megawatt hour, the regulated price is well below the 100 euros and more that has become common in wholesale.

The measure is likely to cost around 8 billion euros, said Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire in an interview with the newspaper "Le Parisien".

So similar to the already announced reduction in electricity tax for February 1st.

Originally, the latter alone was intended to cap electricity costs for consumers.

But that is no longer enough.

Without both measures, the increase this year would have been around 35 percent instead of 4, Le Maire calculates.

Gas tariffs were also capped

"These additional and massive measures reflect the government's unrestricted efforts in favor of the purchasing power of private households and the competitiveness of companies," the finance ministry quoted its minister as saying.

It is made possible by the competitiveness of the French nuclear power plant park.

It provides inexpensive energy and is completely CO2-free.

The government has already capped the increase in gas tariffs.

In addition, in December 5.8 million households received an “energy cheque” with an average value of 150 euros, and the “inflation compensation” payment of 100 euros is currently in progress.

38 million French people are eligible.

These are all those who earn less than 2000 euros net per month.

In addition to the price jumps on the world market, the standstill of several French nuclear reactors is considered to be price-driving.

According to the grid operator RTE, only 43 to 51 gigawatts of the 61 gigawatts of power plant capacity installed nationwide are available this January.

One reason is partly pandemic-delayed maintenance work.

There are also unexpected technical problems in the four newest and most powerful reactors in Chooz and Civaux.

They are currently all switched off.

Warning light on yellow

This week there was bad news from power plant operator EDF: On Wednesday he announced that the new reactor in Flamanville would take longer and be more expensive. On Thursday, EDF announced that a reactor at the Penly nuclear power plant in Normandy was also affected by corrosion on a safety system. It is currently standing still as part of a ten-year inspection. In addition, on Thursday the group lowered its production forecast from 330 to 360 to 300 to 330 terawatt hours this year, i.e. by around 10 percent.

The network operator RTE assures that there is currently no risk of a power failure in France.

However, he switched his warning light for the east of the country from green to yellow on Thursday.

Consumers in these regions are asked to reduce their electricity consumption: in the Hauts-de-France region, for example, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region between 6 p.m. and midnight.

The other stages on the warning light are orange and red.