Yolya la “ecological debt” that weighs on future generations, something that Prime Minister Michel Barnier mentioned when he took office in September. But there is also the State debt, quickly brought up when making budget decisions, giving the impression of taking precedence over all other considerations, even if this means sending signals contrary to the decarbonization objectives.
On the one hand, the government relies heavily on electricity to gradually phase out fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), including in the transportation and housing sectors. In France, this energy vector has a considerable advantage in the face of global warming: it is already largely low-carbon (more than 92%, in 2023), thanks to the country’s nuclear installations, but also to hydraulic, wind and solar installations. .
On the other hand, while pushing to increase electricity consumption, this same government is considering… an increase in its taxes to an unprecedented level. It’s not good news for homes and businesses now, nor for the electrification of longer-term uses. Know that an electricity bill covers three main concepts: energy cost, transportation cost and taxes.
Easy promise to keep
On Friday, October 25, Barnier had the opportunity to measure the unpopularity of this project, presented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance: the The oppositions, but also his party group, Les Républicains, although allied to the presidential camp, voted in favor of deleting article 7 of the finance bill for 2025. This could still resurface if the Prime Minister subsequently appealed to article 49.3 of the Constitution, a weapon that has already been used many times to approve a text without a vote.
As written in its initial version, Article 7 plans to significantly increase the fraction collected for electricity, the old internal tax on final consumption of electricity (TICFE). It includes the possibility of increasing it to 50 euros per megawatt hour, more than double what it currently is.
During the “tariff shield” era, in 2022, the government reduced this special tax (an indirect tax) to 1 euro. It then raised it to 21 euros at the beginning of 2024, promising at the same time, by 2025, to return to the level before the inflation crisis, that is, 32 euros, an amount that the ex-TICFE then adds to municipal and departmental taxes.
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