Paris (AFP)

On average 150 euros more on the annual electricity bill of a household using it for heating: the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir alerted Monday on the "risk of explosion" of the price of electricity early 2022, and asks the public authorities to act.

"On the basis of the official methodology for calculating the regulated tariff for the sale of electricity (TRVE), the UFC-Que Choisir has made an estimate of its tariff change which should be announced in January 2022", explains the association. in a statement Monday.

"UFC-Que Choisir estimates that the increase in TRVE at the start of 2022 will reach 11.3% excluding tax, or nearly 10% including tax", taking into account in its estimate "the degree of exposure of TRVE to wholesale market prices, and the level of these wholesale market prices by the end of the year ".

"Concretely, this will represent an average increase of 150 € on the annual electricity bill of a household using it for heating", warns the association again, that is to say more than "the boost of 100 € from the energy check (of which 80% of households are private) supposed to respond only to the already massive increases in gas and fuels ".

Or an invoice of around 1,700 euros per year against 1,550 euros per year at the start of 2021.

“This gloomy prospect is not inevitable, however, since the public authorities have several levers to avoid it,” points out the UFC-Que Choisir.

The association calls on the government to "raise the ceiling of ARENH", a mechanism that allows alternative suppliers to buy nuclear electricity at a regulated price, and the reduction of certain taxes increasing the bill of consumers of electricity.

"We are looking at all the options" for the future, we said last Wednesday to Matignon during the presentation of the extension of the energy check.

Asked Monday about the estimate of the UFC, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) did not wish to react.

CRE calculates the regulated tariffs on the basis of numerous parameters (supply costs, transport, distribution, taxes, etc.) and then proposes to the government, which ultimately decides.

Regulated electricity sales tariffs are revised twice a year: they have already increased by 1.6% in February, then by 0.48% in August for individuals.

But prices are currently soaring on the wholesale markets, raising fears of a very sharp increase in February 2022.

Indeed, even if France mainly produces its electricity with its nuclear power plants, market prices follow those of raw materials (gas and coal), which have risen sharply due to the post-Covid economic recovery.

They are also influenced by the increase in the prices of CO2 emission allowances.

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