France lowers winter power consumption predictions

The French power grid operator has adjusted its electricity consumption forecast for winter due to lower than expected demand from consumers and higher than predicted nuclear and hydropower availability.

Operator RTE, which manages the country's electricity transmission network, said the risk to French power supply from the start of January through the rest of winter has been reduced to "medium".

"We absolutely have the means to avoid power cuts this winter," Thomas Veyrenc, RTE executive director, said on Tuesday in a news briefing.

Power demand has fallen by some 9 percent compared to the pre-pandemic five-year average, according to the grid operator.

"The consumption reductions are greater than anticipated in the September analysis," the operator said in a report quoted by the Reuters news agency. "The drop in electricity consumption is not an illusion, it is real and measurable," said Veyrenc.

Power companies in France had previously warned of outages in anticipation of record low nuclear output, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Europe's energy supplies.

Earlier this month, France's President Emmanuel Macron had said there was "no reason to panic" about possible power cuts this winter, but urged citizens to use less energy. He also called on state nuclear power utility EDF to restart nuclear reactors to prevent outages in case of cold weather.

Prior to that, the French government had launched a major publicity campaign last month encouraging citizens and companies to reduce energy consumption and cut down on wasteful practices.

The government requested that households and businesses make efforts to cut their electricity use by 10 percent. Guidelines suggested reducing heating to 19°C maximum, turning off unused appliances, and, for businesses, switching off unnecessary lighting or advertising at night.

Just three weeks ago, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she would be sending a directive to prefects around the country to prepare for scheduled electricity cuts, to help avoid major blackouts that might affect 60 percent of the population in a worst-case scenario.

Reuters noted that EDF has faced an unprecedented number of reactor outages this year due to delayed maintenance and stress corrosion, reducing nuclear output to a 30-year lows.

EDF is forecasting annual output below historic typical levels until 2024 as it contends with maintaining its ageing hardware.

RTE estimates that France's nuclear availability will increase to about 45 gigawatts by the end of January, as several reactors have gone back online, reported French news outlet RFI.

France's nuclear availability would decrease again in February, EDF said, because of the start of the maintenance season.