You probably won’t realize it, but you may be one of the millions of French people who could have their hot water tank paused automatically at lunchtime this winter. A decree published in the Official Journal on September 27 will allow Enedis and electricity suppliers to temporarily cut off the power supply to remote accumulations via the Linky meter in order to limit the risk of power cuts during the famous peak of midday consumption.
“At the request of RTE and the public authorities, Enedis will temporarily suspend – from October 15, 2022 to April 15, 2023 – the automatic switching signal linked to off-peak hours from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. for controlled electrical uses, mainly hot water tanks”, explains Enedis, joined by RTL. The manager underlines that this is not a cut strictly speaking but rather a shift in uses. This device is presented as “a lever for securing the passage of winter and will contribute to the essential maintenance of the electricity supply-demand balance ensured by RTE to avoid having to resort to exceptional and controlled cuts”.
Not all French people are affected by the measure. This limitation is aimed private users, professionals and communities who have subscribed to an electricity offer during peak hours/off-peak hours for a power less than or equal to 36 kVai.e. nearly 40% of customers, estimated at the number of 4.3 million people by Enedis. The latter will not be deprived of electricity for two hours a day. Only the power supply to the accumulations may be cut off during these two hours. The heating will then take place during the off-peak hours of the night. The peak/off-peak pricing does not change for all other electrical activities carried out during this time slot. If you turn on the television at lunch, you will be charged as usual.
The manager of the electricity distribution network believes that this eco-gesture will make it possible tosave the equivalent of 2.5 gigawatts at 12:30 p.m., the equivalent of two reactors, and 1 gigawatt at 1 p.m.. The impact for individuals promises to be anecdotal to say the least. “The measure will surely cause a lot of talk, but its consequences should be limited if users program their electric water heater to operate during off-peak night hours, and those in the afternoon after 2 p.m. Apart from large hot water needs in the middle of the day, the measure could go unnoticed“, thus indicates the site of Que Choisir.
Enedis also recalls that this measure is not linked to the exceptional cuts of 2 hours, the famous load shedding by districts, which could take place during the winter in the event of a lack of electricity. “If they were to be implemented, these exceptional cuts would be directly via the medium voltage electrical network and not according to the equipment of the Linky meters”, explains the manager.
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