Question 800 — energy and fuels

Summary

Ms. Sandrine Mörch draws the attention of the Minister of State, Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, to the importance of maintaining the regulated natural gas tariff provided for by Articles L. 445-1 to L. 445-4 of the Energy Code, following several decisions by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Council of State. In response to a preliminary question posed by the Council of State, the Court of Justice of the European Union specified in a judgment C-121/15 of September 7, 2016 the conditions under which regulation of gas prices could be permitted with regard to the objectives pursued by Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 13, 2009. It thus established that such regulation may be permitted on the threefold condition that it meets an objective of general economic interest and that it does not undermine the freedom to set prices only to the extent necessary to achieve this objective and in particular during a limited period of time and, finally, that it is clearly defined, transparent, non-discriminatory and controllable. In a decision of July 19, 2017, the Council of State ruled that the regulated natural gas tariff as it was established by Decree No. 2013-400 of May 16, 2013, amending Decree No. 2009-1603 of December 18, 2009 relating to regulated prices for the sale of natural gas, did not meet these conditions and should therefore be canceled. However, it does not appear that the very principle of a regulated tariff should be abandoned. The latter in fact makes it possible to protect the consumer from excessive prices, to ensure security of supply, and to maintain territorial cohesion. It would therefore be appropriate to take a new decree meeting these conditions. For example, as mentioned in this decision, by aiming for the objective of guaranteeing a reasonable and stable gas supply price and only applying this price during the periods during which this price is excessive, or by indexing the supply costs taken into account in the calculation of regulated sales prices on variables more stable than the wholesale market price. Also, it wishes to know if a new decree will be issued quickly to allow the effective application of articles L. 445-1 to L. 445-4 of the energy code and what criteria will be applied to respect the conditions defined by community law.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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