France Becomes Europe’s Leading Electricity Exporter

While Germany is shutting down its nuclear power plants, turning away from Russian gas, and falling into recession, France is building up the capacity of its 56 reactors year after year and positioning itself as “Europe’s first electricity exporter.” According to a recent study by international agency Standard & Poor’s entitled “Global Commodity Insights,” France will “export 50.1 terawatt hours of electricity in 2023, surpassing Sweden, which set a record in 2022.” Spain was second last year with exports of 13.9 terawatt hours of electricity.

According to S&P analysts, France’s exceptional result is related primarily to “the return of nuclear power to important production modes,” as well as to “the increase in renewable energy”: in 2023, solar panels and wind farms in France generated 21.5 terawatt hours and 50.4 terawatt hours of electricity, respectively.

However, the increase in French electricity production does not protect the interests of French consumers, who will see their electricity bills rise by 8.6 to 9.8 percent on February 1, 2024. According to French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, “for 97% of French families, the increase will be below 10%.” Meanwhile, the tariff will increase by 10.1% for the 400,000 users, who subscribe to French national operator Électricité de France’s (EDF) option, under which “favorable tariffs with reduced consumption will be made available on the days when usage is most important on a national scale.”