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After oil and its by-products, natural gas is the second most used energy resource in the world. This energy is essential for heating and also for cooking. Since the conflict in the East, in France, the price of gas has risen sharply. Fortunately, the state does not stand idly by.

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In fact, the government had limited the rate of inflation to 4% by introducing a tariff shield. This 4% limit was reduced from 15% at the beginning of 2023. This tariff shield is the result of the frozen regulated sales tariff. A rate that will disappear by July 1. What will the state offer in exchange?

What is a regulated sales tariff?

A BFMTV article published on April 21, 2023 answered this question :

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“Regulated gas sales tariffs (TRV) are set by the State and are generally revised monthly according to purchase costs on the wholesale markets, storage and transmission costs or even taxes. »

So, contracts that are subject to the regulated sales tariff are the contracts whose prices are indexed to this tariff. Moreover, as a reminder, there are three types of gas sales contract offers in France.

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According to an article from the Ekwateur website, here they are :

• Price contracts indexed to regulated tariffs. They follow the evolution of the TRV (this tariff fixed by the public authorities according to the proposals of the CRE);
• Offers indexed on the wholesale markets. They follow the price of gas on the markets;
• Fixed price offers. The price per kWh remains stable over 1 to 3 years.

However, as the TRV will disappear, it would mean thatthere will only be two types of contracts. The answer is nuanced.

Gas TRV and tariff shield

As mentioned above, the tariff shield on the price of gas was calculated on the basis of a frozen regulated sales tariff. Would that mean that at the end of the regulated tariff the tariff shield will also disappear? An article by the CRE (Energy Regulation Commission) published on March 14, 2023 raise the veil on this question :

“The 2023 finance law provides for the possibility for the Government to extend by decree until December 31, 2023 the tariff shield currently in force, which ends on June 30, 2023.”

Thus, normally, the disappearance of the gas TRV should eliminate the tariff shield on the price of gas. However, the law provides for the possibility for the State to extend it. So far, no official statement announced whether the tariff shield is extended or not.

However, relayed in an article by TF1 Info published on April 21, the former Minister of Housing, Emmanuelle Wargon, invites citizens to do not listen to suppliers who try to make believe in « the apocalypse from July 1st ».

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She also states that « yes, the tariff shield will continue to apply until the end of the year ” although she did not give more details on its level of application. Moreover, extension of the tariff shield or not, the government has already provided means to protect consumers.

A reference tariff for the price of gas

When the regulated gas sales tariff is abolished, consumers will certainly be bombarded with advertising by gas suppliers. Antoine Autier, head of studies at UFC-Que Choisir fears it.

In an article by Que Choisir published on January 21, 2023, we can read :

“Antoine Autier fears that ‘consumers will be drowned in convoluted commercial messages, given that there is a market to be taken in a short period of time’”.

To protect consumers and avoid this case feared by Antoine Autier, the CRE has just published its « methodology for the construction of complete gas prices ». In a nutshell, it boils down to the publication of a reference tariff each month.

The objective of this publication is « to serve as a benchmark for residential customers who wish to compare the offers offered by gas suppliers », underlines the CRE reported in an article from Que Choisir published on April 22, 2023.

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