The measure has been official since Friday: EDF puts an end to power cuts in the event of unpaid bills. The leading energy supplier in France lightens its device: homes bad payers will always have power. They will now be limited to a maximum consumption of 1 kilowatt hour (kWh), that is, the energy consumed by an electrical appliance of 1000 watts.
But the new limit set by EDF will always be penalizing. “An announcement effect does not change anything and it does not meet the demand of associations. The simple use of a vacuum cleaner consumes 1000 watts. Either you vacuum, or you have the light or you heat yourself. “ pointe Denis Rochette, deputy director of ADFO, the Dijon association of working-class families, which takes a hundred households in difficulty of payment with their electricity bills.
A limit … too restrictive
For example, it would have taken an extra effort “at the level of people equipped with electric heating” according to Bernard Quaretta, member of the Emmaüs Norges-la-Ville board of directors, and which has been helping people with poor housing in the Côte d’Or for 40 years. The consumption limit per household is too high, according to him, it would have been necessary to increase the threshold above 1000 watts.
For Secours Catholique, the energy aid granted to families in difficulty should already be settled more quickly. Priority according to Gerald Morice, the president of the antenna in the department. Because the arrears are piling up: “up to 2,000 or 3,000 euros on energy bills for individuals in Côte d’Or.”
Growing requests for aid for Secours Catholique
We should know a little more at the beginning of next week on the evolution of fuel poverty. its statistical report on the state of poverty in France for the year 2021.
In the meantime, since the start of the health crisis a year and a half ago, Secours Catholique has received 120 requests for aid in the Côte d’Or after late payments on electricity bills. Requests that come from Dijon as from the rural areas of the department.
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