French home energy bills to rise in 2026
Household electricity and gas bills will increase by around €50 per year
Gas and electricity bills are expected to rise in France next year following changes to the ‘energy saving certificates’ financial aid scheme
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People living in France should prepare to pay an average of around €50 more on home energy bills next year.
The price increase is due to changes in the certificats d’économies d’énergie (CEE) energy saving certificates scheme, which will come into effect from January 1, 2026, reported France Inter.
These changes will not affect fixed-price contracts and will only apply to private households.
Energy suppliers such as EDF may choose to rely on customers to fund the price increase, depending on their commercial strategies. Engie has already suggested that their customers’ gas and electricity bills will go up next year.
What do the CEE changes entail?
The CEE scheme was established in 2005 and came into force in 2006, requiring energy suppliers and oil companies to finance measures to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, such as insulation grants for low-income households.
The government announced that the volume of energy-saving obligations suppliers must finance will rise in January – creating an opportunity for more CEE funding but potentially triggering a price increase for gas and electricity bills.
Finance Minister, Roland Lescure, stated that the CEE scheme is “not a form of tax” but highlighted that petrol companies sometimes use it as an “excuse” to increase fuel prices.
The French Union of Petrol Industries (Ufip) has stated the changes will likely lead to a price increase of between four and six centimes per litre of fuel at petrol stations.
Backlash from consumer associations
Consumer organisation, UFC-Que Choisir, is calling for a cap on rising prices and for greater transparency on how CEEs impact household energy bills.
“There is no CEE line on bills, so it is difficult to see this impact over a period of time,” Clarisse Berger, CEE specialist at UFC-Que Choisir, told France Inter.
France’s audit institution Cour des comptes published a report on CEEs in September 2024, estimating that “in 2023, each household contributed an average of up to €164 to the scheme through energy bills and fuel costs.”
