Last winter, in the face of soaring energy prices in part caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, France rolled out its plan for sobriété enérgetique (energy sobriety) – which was also part of its longer-term commitment to reducing its energy use by 30 percent by 2030, in order to combat climate change.

The plan was in three parts – compulsory measures for government offices and public buildings, expected measures for businesses and voluntary measures that households and private individuals could take.

Now France’s Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has announced an updated sobriété enérgetique plan for winter 2023/24 in an effort to ensure that habits adopted by French households and businesses last winter become engrained.

The energy situation is nowhere near as problematic this year. EDF has said that 37 of France’s nuclear power plants are online, compared to 30 in the winter of 2022/23, meaning energy production is up 8 percent over the first eight months of the year. And French gas stocks are at 95 percent of capacity. 

But a cold winter would still hit reserves hard, prompting the government to keep pushing its energy-saving measures.

“We had set a target of reducing energy consumption by 10 percent by the end of 2024, and we’ve done better, with an effective 12 percent drop as early as last winter,” she told France 2, as she unveiled the new measures

The plan includes a reminder to homeowners to keep heating at no more than 19C.

“Lowering the temperature by 1C means 7 percent less energy consumption”, a member of the Minister’s cabinet told Le Parisien. 

This year, the government’s plan also includes a subsidy for homeowners to buy smart thermostats, programmable devices that can cut household energy consumption by as much as 15 percent.

Energy suppliers Engie and some retailers – including Leroy Merlin, Castorama, Brico Dépôt, Bricorama, Fnac-Darty – have committed to offering smart thermostats with up to 80 percent off the €650 to €1,000 retail price.

Another energy saver is to use LED lighting wherever possible, which consumes “six to 10 times less electricity”.

It went a little under the radar last year, but the government also asked CAC40 companies to encourage employees to limit their speed to 110km/h on France’s motorways to save fuel. 

Only 27 percent of those companies responded to the request, resulting in a dip in petrol and diesel consumption of just 2 percent, according to Pannier-Runacher. 

Despite the muted and limited response to its call last time, this year, the government will repeat its request – but will cast its net wider to the 120 biggest companies in France. And officials have yet to decide whether a €100 car-share incentive that was taken up by 160,000 motorists last year will be reintroduced this winter.

A corporate tax reduction for businesses to offer bicycles to employees, however, will be extended through to 2027. And bicycle rental will be taken into account in employee travel expenses. 

Meanwhile, a decree is also being prepared that would impose a €1,500 fine on shops and businesses that fail to switch off their window lights one hour after closing or switch them on more than one hour before opening. 

Despite the measures, the government has no plans to tighten its targets for energy consumption.

“What’s at stake is for this to become structural, so that we don’t have to come back to it,” Pannier-Runacher said.