France didn’t have, in 2022, power cuts as it was feared. That threat maybe had been exaggerated in order that household and enterprises make efforts to reduce their power consumption. But it is the unique good news because the inflationist wave which has mainly resulted from the sanctions adopted against Russia with the fossil prices increase which was its consequence and the disastrous results of France foreign trade show to which point the country has been hurt. That situation comes, for a large share, from the mistakes made by the State regarding energy for fifteen years and from European regulations to which French authorities in charge of these issues did not oppose to.

With FAB-FAB data, the trade deficit increased between 2021 and 2022 from 78 billion to 163 billion euros. The main cause of this degradation has been an augmentation of the energy bill (in CAF-FAB figures) by 70 billion. The fossil fuels prices increase, whose balance lowered by 50 billion, is one of the reasons. The natural gas purchases as a precaution, whose inventory at the end of the year has passed from 100 to 117 TWh PCS, have also contributed to it as the increase of refined products imports caused by the reduction of one third of the production capacities during these previous years. Regarding electricity, France was a net exporter for near 3 billion euros in 2021 and has become for the first time an importer for about 7 billion in 2022.

The deterioration of the electricity exchanges is all the more spectacular than the many calls in favor of a consumption moderation have been well received. Its reduction has so overpassed 7% during the 4^th quarter, compared to 2022 1^st quarter. But due to the fall of the nuclear plants availability with the stoppage of more than 20 power plants, it has been necessary to increase thermal production, which partly explains the natural gas imports increase, and to import electricity at a time when, due to European regulations, its price reached peaks. The State has had to put into place tariffs shields which have cost it tens of billion euros.

The bad choices of the previous governments are, by large, responsible of the fall of the nuclear power production, passed from 362 TWh in 2021 to 280 TWh in 2022. The lockdown measures had made the maintenance operations delayed until 2022 and 2023. A concentration of the operations so occurred. But the most important point is not there. It is the expressed worry about that production mode and which has been confirmed with the objective to bring back to 50% the nuclear share in the power mix.That has generated a diminution of the number of the employees allowing to obtaining the good achievement of the maintenance operations. To offer carrier prospects to highly qualified technicians who are necessary to manage the plants is an indisputable condition. Until the turnaround operated recently with the announcement of the construction of six new power plants, that condition was not fulfilled. It has been possible to see consequences of this problem with the difficulties occurred during the construction of the Flamanville EPR.

The closing in 2021 of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant was unjustified. It had received the operating authorization from the Nuclear Safety Authority. That has constituted another mistake, occurred at the worst time because France has had to buy from Germany electricity produced with coal power plants to cope with its needs. Atop of that, some plants have had to be stopped because had been observed corrosion problems, despite very low incident risks. In the United States, relevant authorities wouldn’t have ordered their stoppage and would have allowed them to operating until their periodic maintenance operations during which these repairs would have been done. 

The 2022 energy crisis has also shown that the new renewable sources were not able to replace nuclear power production. It was spectacular in Germany which has increased its coal consumption and its CO2 emissions but also in France because to compensate for the nuclear activity fall, it has been necessary to delay the closing of some thermal power plants and to have recourse to imports.

The reason is simple: during winter, when we need the highest quantity of power, windfarms and solar panels are not able to increase enough their production. So, during 2022 1^st quarter,  when nuclear plant productions has started to decline (-7.5% and 64% of the power production), windfarms production has stagnated  (-1.3% with 11% of the power production), solar panels remains marginal (2.2% of the power production) and it was necessary to use thermal production (+11%) to satisfy electricity demand. The only production mode which is neither intermittent nor emitting carbon is so nuclear.

Household and enterprises, we saw it, have made efforts in 2022 to limit their power consumption. Between the first and the fourth quarter, this one has fallen by 7.2% bases on comparable data, as we saw it. Nuclear power production falls by 24.5% and is compensated by the keeping of a high level of the thermal production, by imports and, at a small level, by the production of the windfarms. During that period, prices on the European market have had an unprecedented increase. They pass from 38€ per KWh as an average in 2000 to 153€ in 2021 to attain 279€ in 2022 after having reached a peak during the 3^rd quarter at more than 300€. We can so measure the consequences for France to have gone in one year from the position of a power exporter to that one of an importer at the time when prices due to their connection with natural gas prices, has had such an increase.

To the mistakes made during the past have so been added that one of having accepted this connection which was motivated by the necessity to protect German economy from the advantages France was taking from its nuclear power production. The absurdity of such a situation has appeared and the lessons are now being taken in Brussels with the redefinition of the European energy policy. France must, at last, make his positions being taken into considerations. Electricity is a good quite also essential as the money, the current crisis having just brought the proof of it. The States cannot mean, thanks to interconnections, to have access at a fixed price to power without submitting them to common rules regarding to their production mix.

Like the European Stability Pact, which went along with the creation of the euro, it is necessary to create a European Electricity Safety Pact to which the States which want to have access to the market must commit themselves. It will have to include three criteria to be respected, supply safety of the imports of fossil fuels to avoid that come again the problems born with the crisis with Russia, an intermittence ceiling which protects the stability of the production and CO2 emissions levels in order to respect climate commitments. France must use its full weight to make European Union going through that new step.

It is possible to make mistakes. The only mean to repair them is, at first, to recognize them. Then, after having taken the lessons, the right thing to do is to adopt the measures which will allow not to being again in the same position with a new dark year. Such is the challenge the French government is confronted with to elaborate a new energy policy.