A higher bill from next month. The reference price of gas will increase by 15.4% from 1is May for three quarters of subscribers, announced Wednesday April 8, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), policeman of the sector. The cause is energy disruptions linked to the war in the Middle Eastwhich caused market prices to rise.
This increase in “benchmark price” gas will concern the approximately 7.5 million households having subscribed to a supplier offer indexed to this average price which varies every month. Thus, 73% of residential gas subscribers will see their monthly bill increase by 6.19 euros including tax on average in May, CRE said in a press release.
“Attenuated” impact
The independent administrative authority recalls that “this increase occurs in spring, a period when it is less necessary to use heating, mitigating the impact on household bills”.
This increase is the “consequence of the increase in prices on the gas markets which have occasionally doubled” due to the war in the Middle East, therefore changing the share ” supply “one of the three components of the bill, alongside taxes and delivery costs, she also specified.
The calculation of the share ” supply “ is based on a combination of average market prices observed during the two previous months, i.e., for May 2026, those of February and March. As a result, the benchmark price will increase on average to 160.50 euros/MWh including tax on 1is May, compared to 139.10 euros/MWh on 1is avril.
From the disappearance of regulated gas pricesthe “benchmark gas sales price (PRVG)” constitutes a sort of compass to help consumers orient themselves in the market and compare suppliers’ offers. On the other hand, the 27% of subscribers who subscribed to a fixed price offer “will therefore not have this increase applied during the duration of their contract”.
