Electricity tariffs in France: spot prices, off-peak hours and your bill
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In this guide
The lowest point on France’s wholesale chart is not necessarily your cheapest time to use electricity. First check whether you pay a single rate, scheduled peak/off-peak rates, Tempo prices or a genuinely dynamic price. This guide concerns households in mainland continental France, not Corsica or overseas territories.
Start with the contract, not the chart
Base means the same kWh rate throughout the day; it does not mean that the rate is fixed for the whole contract. Heures pleines/heures creuses (HP/HC) uses scheduled price bands. A fixed-price offer may fix only the energy component, while an indexed offer may follow the regulated tariff rather than the spot market. Compare both the subscription and the full tax-inclusive kWh price. National energy ombudsman: comparing offers.
A genuinely dynamic offer follows changing market prices. It requires a communicating Linky meter; check data access and how measured intervals are converted into billable quantities. The supplier’s contractual billing interval matters: a 15-minute wholesale chart does not establish that every French offer bills each quarter-hour separately. National energy ombudsman: dynamic offers.
With dynamic billing, your own consumption-weighted energy price can differ greatly from our day average. If essential heating coincides with expensive periods, a cheap annual market average alone is not enough to establish that switching will help.
Off-peak hours and Tempo are different signals
HP/HC normally provides eight off-peak hours per day. Use the times on your bill or customer account, not the green bars on this website. For the standard option, the network operator sets the schedule for your connection. National energy ombudsman: understanding HP/HC.
Enedis is progressively changing schedules between November 2025 and the end of 2027, including more daytime off-peak hours in summer. Do not assume your own times have already changed. Read the supplier’s notice and update appliance timers only for the schedule actually assigned to you. Enedis: the off-peak timetable changes.
Tempo combines day colours with peak/off-peak prices. EDF describes 22 red days each season, with expensive peak hours; its Tempo off-peak period is 22:00–06:00. Those rules are not a forecast of tomorrow’s wholesale prices. A home unable to reduce electric heating during red peak periods needs a careful annual comparison. EDF: Tempo.
Supplier examples: different ways to price electricity
Checked on 11 September 2026. These examples are not rankings or a complete supplier list. Obtain the current household price sheet for your connection power and address. Commercial “market offers” are not all spot-indexed.
| Supplier and product | What the price follows | Practical check |
|---|---|---|
| EDF Tempo | Day colour and peak/off-peak band, not each spot interval. | Compare the whole year, including red peak periods, and check all six rates plus subscription. EDF Tempo |
| TotalEnergies Charge’Heures | Scheduled bands; its HP/HC/HSC option advertises super-off-peak hours from 02:00 to 06:00. | Check the exact option, Linky eligibility and data permissions. A percentage discount on one band is not the same discount on the total bill. Charge’Heures |
| Frank Énergie | Dynamic market pricing plus a subscription and other bill components. | Its product page describes hourly prices. Ask for the complete dated tariff and actual billing interval; do not treat the wholesale curve as the tax-inclusive price. Frank Énergie |
| Sobry SoCap / SoFlex | Spot-linked offers with different protection terms. Its household tariff sheet describes caps on the monthly average. | Check the cap’s scope, season, premium and excluded charges. A monthly-average cap is not a cap on every interval or on the whole bill. Sobry tariff sheet |
For an HP/HC comparison, use your actual split and current tax-inclusive prices. In an invented example with identical subscriptions, Base at 20 ct/kWh costs €40 for 200 kWh. HP at 22 ct and HC at 16 ct costs €38 if 100 kWh fall in each band. Break-even is one-third of consumption in HC for these numbers only; a different subscription or price pair changes the threshold.
Network charges and the August 2026 tax change
The bill includes energy, the supplier’s costs, network use (TURPE) and taxes. Since February 2026, the CTA contribution is 15% of the relevant fixed network component, not a percentage of the wholesale price. In mainland France, 20% VAT applies to electricity consumption and, since August 2025, also the subscription. It also applies to the taxable contributions. National energy ombudsman: electricity taxes.
From 1 August 2026, the ordinary electricity excise for connections up to 36 kVA is €30.62/MWh before VAT, or 3.062 ct/kWh. The earlier €30.85/MWh figure is not the September rate. Use the tax applicable to the delivery date, not a price sheet left over from the previous period. CRE: August 2026 tariff and excise changes.
If a supplier already quotes a full tax-inclusive kWh price, do not add network charges and tax again. Connection power affects fixed costs; reducing it requires checking the power your home genuinely needs, not just annual kWh.
A worked dynamic bill for 200 kWh
This is an invented example for a month after July 2026, not an EDF, Frank or Sobry quote. Only the ordinary excise, CTA and VAT rates are statutory inputs. All inputs below exclude VAT. The supplier addition includes all assumed procurement-related additions. The example assumes the €8 fixed network charge is the CTA base; actual CTA is not a flat fee. No price cap or promotion is applied.
| Component | Calculation before VAT | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption-weighted market energy | 200 kWh × €0.06 | €12.00 |
| Supplier addition | 200 kWh × €0.015 | €3.00 |
| Variable network charge | 200 kWh × €0.045 | €9.00 |
| Electricity excise | 200 kWh × €0.03062 | €6.124 |
| Supplier subscription | Monthly | €5.00 |
| Fixed network component | Monthly | €8.00 |
| CTA | €8 × 15% | €1.20 |
| Subtotal | Before rounding | €44.324 |
| VAT | €44.324 × 20% | €8.8648 |
| Total | Rounded to cents | €53.19 |
The all-in average is about 26.59 ct/kWh, compared with the assumed 6 ct market price. Intermediate decimals are kept to make the calculation reproducible; real invoices may round components differently. The €5 and €8 fixed amounts are already separated here, not an invitation to add network costs to a subscription that already includes them.
Negative prices and checks before switching
With the same invented variable costs, a −1 ct/kWh market price gives about 9.67 ct/kWh including VAT, plus fixed charges, assuming negative prices are fully passed through: (−1 + 1.5 + 4.5 + 3.062) × 1.20. With Base or scheduled HP/HC, the contract’s rate applies instead. Consuming more merely because the market is negative can still increase your bill.
- Download a representative consumption history and check the amount you can safely shift without compromising comfort.
- Confirm Linky communication, required permissions, billing interval, subscription, additions, taxes, cap exclusions and missing-data treatment.
- Compare full annual costs using the ombudsman’s offer-comparison guidance and official comparison tool, not a supplier’s headline saving alone.
- For a household changing supplier at the same address, the switch itself is free and the new supplier handles termination of the old contract. Moving home is a different procedure. National energy ombudsman: switching supplier.
- Plan with the price signal your contract actually uses. For the invented 22/16 ct HP/HC rates above, shifting 50 kWh from HP to HC saves €3, not 50 times the average bill price. Check separately any solar-export contract.
Sources and review date
The linked regulator, ombudsman, network-operator and supplier sources were checked on 11 September 2026. This guide explains household choices; it is not a tariff ranking, personalized legal or tax advice, or a promise of savings. Always use the price sheet and terms valid for your address, connection power and delivery dates.