Paris (AFP)

Discounts on electricity or gas, "dynamic" pricing, green offers ... In the jungle of the energy market, consumers risk getting lost, without necessarily getting the hoped-for good deals or helping the boom in renewables .

France, whose market is liberalized, now has around forty suppliers of all nationalities who offer around one hundred offers to individuals.

Some promise more than 15% reduction compared to the regulated tariff ... which does not always translate into invoices.

"When they tell you a 10% reduction in the tariff, the only thing they forget to tell you is that it is a 10% reduction in consumption", notes the National Energy Mediator, Olivier Challan Belval, interviewed by AFP.

However, energy consumption only accounts for a third of the final bill, the rest representing various taxes and the cost of delivery, which cannot be reduced, as well as the subscription.

The discount is therefore much less in the end.

"You have to take a good look at what we are offering you", emphasizes Olivier Challan Belval, who recommends using the Mediator's official comparator.

Alternative suppliers, who often do not produce electricity or gas but are content to market them, also differ little from one another, lament the consumer associations.

"They have little room for maneuver to differentiate themselves", observes François Carlier, general delegate of the association of consumers CLCV.

"There is no breakthrough innovation as there can be in telecoms so the differences are very small," he said.

- "It's a bit like bitcoin" -

The choice is further complicated with the arrival in France of electricity offers with so-called "dynamic" pricing, recently denounced by the leader of France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

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They offer prices that change hourly according to price trends on the wholesale markets.

Their argument: take advantage of the price cuts.

These offers - which suppose to have a Linky meter - are still very marginal (with the Danish Barry, followed by the Leclerc supermarkets) but must multiply in the future, due to a European directive which will oblige any large supplier. to offer.

"I see a risk for the consumer," warns the Energy Mediator.

"Electricity prices on the markets can ... increase very, very sharply overnight, because there is a cold snap or a major power plant that is down," he recalls. he.

"We are on something very risky and volatile, it's a bit bitcoin", abounds François Carlier.

And it is not always possible to change its consumption: "in winter evening, I stop heating myself?"

In Belgium, the authorities have warned about price volatility: the average price of electricity was on average 44.23 euros per MWh in September, but with an hourly price rising from time to time up to 200 euros. .

- Heterogeneous green offers -

Finally, the market is marked by the proliferation of so-called "green" offers, which surf on the environmental concerns of consumers.

But they are marked by "a great heterogeneity" with promises "not always easy to verify", remarks Brice Arnaud, economist of Ademe (Agency for the environment and energy management).

These offers are very often based on the system of "guarantees of origin", simply attesting that a quantity of renewable electricity equivalent to that which has been sold to the customer has indeed been injected into the network in Europe.

These guarantees come mainly from hydraulic installations already depreciated, so that subscribing to these offers in no way guarantees to help the energy transition.

Ademe is preparing a label, which should be available in September, to help consumers sort it out.

The labeled offers will ensure that the supplier not only guarantees of origin but also purchases electricity from a renewable energy producer.

The highest level of the label will even relate to installations "without public support", which will thus be encouraged, specifies Brice Arnaud.

"We hope that this label, by highlighting these offers there can perhaps justify a higher price and cause a movement".

© 2021 AFP