NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 13:17 ET
- France will replace its ARENH nuclear power pricing scheme on Jan. 1, 2026, and the government says regulated electricity tariffs should stay broadly stable in 2026 and 2027.
- The new “universal nuclear payment” mechanism would claw back some EDF nuclear revenues above set thresholds and redistribute them to consumers, but regulators see it as unlikely to trigger soon.
- Consumer group UFC-Que Choisir says a separate policy change could add about 50 euros a year to households’ gas and electricity bills in 2026.
France’s economy ministry says most households should not see their electricity bills rise in 2026 and 2027 as the country enters a new pricing regime for nuclear power from Jan. 1.
The reassurance comes just ahead of the expiry of ARENH, a long-running scheme that capped the price of part of EDF’s nuclear output and helped set the benchmark for retail electricity offers.
The change matters now because it lands at the start of a new year, when households reset budgets and energy bills are a politically sensitive issue after the volatility of recent years.
Under ARENH — short for Accès régulé à l’électricité nucléaire historique — EDF has been required since 2011 to sell a portion of its nuclear electricity at a fixed price of 42 euros per megawatt hour to rivals and some large industrial customers. The mechanism ends on Dec. 31.
From Jan. 1, EDF will have greater freedom to sell nuclear output, while a new framework is meant to limit the impact on consumers when wholesale prices spike.
A key feature is the versement nucléaire universel (VNU), a tax-and-redistribution system that would skim part of EDF’s nuclear revenues above thresholds of 78 euros and 110 euros per megawatt hour and return it to consumers, including households and businesses.
With wholesale power prices around 50 euros per megawatt hour, the mechanism looks unlikely to kick in in the near term, according to officials and the energy regulator cited in French media reports.
Some market watchers say the shift still changes what consumers see when wholesale prices fall. Transition energy specialist Hello Watt calculated that keeping ARENH would have delivered about a 9% drop in the pre-tax regulated tariff price per kilowatt hour at the start of 2026, with most of that benefit now likely to be absorbed by the new market-linked framework rather than show up as a visible cut in bills.
Maxime de la Raudière, deputy chief executive of online comparison site Selectra, said the underlying, pre-tax power price is now “more of a stagnation, even a slight fall,” but warned taxes will be decisive. “The rule is: stay informed, look at offers regularly and don’t hesitate to switch,” he said.
Even if regulated electricity tariffs hold steady, other policy changes could lift households’ energy costs in 2026. Le Point reported that a government decree published in November will require suppliers to fund more energy-saving measures, such as home renovations and electric vehicle purchases, increasing their obligations by 27% next year.
UFC-Que Choisir said that extra cost could translate into roughly 50 euros more a year on gas and electricity bills, Le Point reported, adding that the same factors could add 4 to 6 euro cents per litre at fuel pumps.
Officials have framed the new post-ARENH system as a way to share the benefits of France’s low-carbon power mix — dominated by nuclear and renewables — with consumers while supporting future investment. Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu told France Inter that French electricity prices were 40% cheaper than those “on the other side of the Rhine, in Germany,” according to L’EnerGeek. L’Energeek
