Here’s how to cut your electricity bill by 20% – and avoid February’s rate hike

In February 2024, there are plans to further increase electricity prices in France. However, you can limit its impact and save up to 20% on your bill by switching energy suppliers.

This is very bad news that is going to be announced by the government. Even though wholesale electricity prices have been falling for several months, your energy bill could go up by 1^er February 2024. The reason? The Ministry of Economy has planned to refund the domestic end-use tax on electricity. As a reminder, this tax was suspended along with the Tariff Shield, which was put in place about two years ago to compensate for the meteoric rise in energy prices for households. With this system, the state effectively took responsibility for part of the energy bill for French households. But since this period of energy crisis, France’s electricity production is getting better. However, this reform in the market will not benefit the consumers, but the state. “The cost of electricity in our country is falling, which allows us to gradually pay taxes,”

Minister in charge of Public Accounts warned Delegate Thomas Cazeneuve.

Fortunately, you can limit the impact of this increase and significantly reduce your electricity bill by switching suppliers. Indeed, the energy market has been open to competition since 2007, and while some operators align with EDF’s regulated tariffs, others practice free prices. And some have taken advantage of the recent drop in wholesale prices per megawatt hour to apply a very advantageous formula. Some offers with commitments also offer a lock-in price guarantee for a year or two, thus protecting against possible future increases in regulated prices. It is therefore the right time to switch, especially since it is now very easy to subscribe to online offers and switching suppliers is done easily, without any disruption or intervention even at home.

No need to shop around for suppliers to find an offer that suits your needs: just use online comparators. There are many, but we recommend UFC-Que Choisir, a famous consumer association that offers a very well-designed tool, accessible to all for free – no need to be a member of the association or subscribe to a magazine – completely independent Any commercial partnership, which is not always the case with other comparators.

It is very easy to use. Once on the web page, simply fill out an anonymous form, no personal information is requested showing your energy type (electricity, gas or both), your prices (basic or peak/off-peak hours), your annual usage, your postal. Code and the power of your meter (in kVA) then click on the I compare button.

From then on, you can compare the various contracts offered by the energy suppliers available in your region. You will find many more or less well-known ones such as Ohm Energy, Total Energy, Mint Energy, Sovi, Enercoop, Vattenfall or even Aquater that offer reductions from 5 to 20%, which corresponds to a few hundred euros per year depending on you. Access You just have to go to the sites of the most interesting operators, note the name of the offer because some offer, with different conditions. Be careful though, some offers are tied to a long-term commitment, while others have the possibility of recurring increases. “Current prices are updated at the beginning of the month, as suppliers put their new prices online, and based on the elements they communicate with”,

UFC-Que Choisir suggests the website.