Juliette Moreau Alvarez 09:06, December 09, 2022

Guest of the morning of Europe 1, Emmanuelle Wargon spoke on the points of tension around the electric in France.

Reactors in maintenance, increase in electricity, difficulties in gas supply ... For the president of the Cre, we will pass the course, but it will be necessary to wait "several years before a return to normal".

A tense winter awaits France this year.

The risks of load shedding hang over the country, while the prices of electricity and gas are soaring.

If in recent days the collective effort of households and businesses has been widely felt on the network, the situation is far from stabilizing.

Guest of the morning of Europe 1 this Friday, Emmanuelle Wargon, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission (Cre), welcomes this progress but remains lucid: the French nuclear fleet continues to suffer.

"It's going to take a few years to be totally back to normal."

>> Find the 8:13 interview in replay and podcast here

The nuclear fleet remains under tension

The years when France produced 100% of its electricity are far behind us.

This Friday, 38 French nuclear reactors out of 56 were operating.

The cause: a phenomenon of "corrosion under stress" in the power plants and a delay in maintenance.

"EDF has lost a quarter of its nuclear production compared to usual, which is enormous", explains the president of Cre.

"We think that this winter will be rather delicate, probably next winter again, and then each year it will improve", predicts Emmanuelle Wargon.

The winter of 2023-2024 will be particularly difficult, underlines the former minister.

In addition to national difficulties on nuclear power, tensions over gas supplies will persist.

Nevertheless, Emmanuelle Wargon wants to be optimistic about the consequences of this situation on households and businesses.

"We were worried about this winter but I think we will show collectively that we can get through it."

According to her, it will be the same thing next year.

To compensate, the state has notably imported more electricity, "the equivalent of 15 gigawatts of power", from Germany, Italy or even Belgium.

"It's a lot", admits Emmanuelle Wargon, "but it is what allows us to balance the network."