France: large retailers agree on an "energy sobriety" plan

Illustrative image of a supermarket © Shutterstock

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1 min

In France, a few days after President Emmanuel Macron's call to " 

collectively return to a logic of sobriety 

" to deal with the risk of shortages linked to the war in Ukraine, large retailers are announcing " 

common and concrete measures

 to reduce energy consumption in stores, starting October 15.

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These are simple measures, some of which would say that

it was time for them to be put in place

.

In particular, this involves turning off the illuminated signs in department stores " 

as soon as they close

 " - as opposed to generally one hour later at present -, reducing the lighting of the sales area by half before the arrival of the public and reduce by 30% during “ 

critical consumption periods

 ”.

Also planned are “

 cutting off air renewal at night, or even delaying ice production

 ”.

Emergency measures include lowering the temperature at points of sale to 17 degrees if requested by the authorities.

"

 The electricity bill represented 30% 

" of the net profit of the brands and that, " 

before the recent surges in energy costs

 " underlines the Perifem association which represents all the players in the distribution

The idea being to avoid an excessive impact on prices for consumers, while the Élan law provides for a reduction in energy consumption in stores by 40% by 2030.

Tests in certain brands will be organized during the summer to check the reliability of these measurements.

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  • Energies