“The watchword is clear: general mobilisation,” Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said at a press conference announcing the plan.
The measures are the result of four months of discussion, following Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne’s June announcement of an energy sobriety programme for each sector of the French economy in response to the energy crisis and vulnerabilities in the national electricity network.
To reduce energy consumption by 10% in two years, the government has slated 15 key measures, from reducing heating to a maximum of 19°C in offices to encouraging people to carpool.
The plan also includes specific measures for each of the nine economic and social sectors targeted: the State, companies and labour organisations, establishments open to the public and supermarkets, industry, accommodation, transport, digital and telecommunications, sport, and local authorities.
Additionally, private individuals will be advised to practice “eco gestures”, from reducing shower time to switching off household appliances when they are on standby for too long. For the prime minister, it is a matter of acting “on the whole range of energy savings”.
While the government insists on the particular need to reduce energy consumption during peak hours – between 8 am and noon and between 6 and 8 pm – it does not set binding targets. “There will not be such thing as a temperature police,” Pannier-Runacher told RTL on Thursday.
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