Functioning of the French Retail Electricity and Natural Gas Markets in 2023 and 2024 (CRE)

Summary

• At 31 December 2024 there were 40.1 M electricity consumers and 11.1 M natural gas consumers in the retail markets.p.3
• Consumer protection schemes cost €22.1 billion for residential consumers and €4.0 billion for business consumers.p.4
• The total cost of the protection measures was evaluated at €26.1 billion.p.7
• The average billed price of residential electricity at regulated tariffs reached 282.5 €/MWh incl. tax in February 2024.p.8
• Businesses paid on average 242 €/MWh incl. tax for electricity and 91 €/MWh for gas in 2023, falling to 193 €/MWh and 75 €/MWh in 2024.p.10
• Fixed-price contracts protected 4.1 million residential electricity consumers and 4.4 million residential gas consumers.p.8

Key insights

1. 2023 was an exceptional year of consumer protection, and 2024 marks the start of the exit from the crisis.p.4
2. The number of electricity and gas offers available doubled between end 2022 and end 2024.p.4
3. Sites in market offers grew by more than 1 million per year in 2023 and 2024, twice as fast as in 2022.p.4
4. Falling wholesale prices in 2024 allowed the emergency measures not to be renewed.p.7
5. French household electricity prices stayed below those of European neighbours, with a gap of more than 180 €/MWh incl. tax in 2023 versus German households.p.9
6. Regulated gas tariffs ended in June 2023, and the regulator now publishes a monthly benchmark gas price.p.9