Load shedding Decree

Decree no. 2022-495 relating to the load shedding of natural gas consumption was published on 7 April 2022 in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

This Decree supplements the regulatory section of the French Energy Code by introducing provisions relating to the load shedding of natural gas consumption, for the application of Articles L. 434-1 to L. 434-4 of the French Energy Code.

Load shedding is a last resort for network operators seeking to safeguard the supply of protected customers (hospitals, educational buildings, military facilities, etc.) in the event of a major supply crisis. It would only be used when all other existing measures available to network operators had been exhausted.

• A load shedding order is a call to reduce or stop the consumption of natural gas within two hours.
• Consumers receiving such an order are legally obliged to comply.
• Several consumers may form a group by signing an agreement, and according to certain criteria. As such, only one of them will be mandated to respond, and the load shedding order is applied to the group rather than individually.
• Every year, natural gas network operators carry out a consumer survey to gather three items of information:
  • Contact details and means of contact that the network operator can use to reach the consumer at any time,
  • The economic consequences that the consumer would suffer if its natural gas consumption were stopped or reduced,
  • The supply level below which these economic consequences are likely to occur.
• It mandatory to respond to this survey within two months. Consumers failing to respond within this timeframe are deemed not to suffer any economic consequences if their natural gas consumption is reduced or stopped.
• Based on the survey responses sent by network operators, the prefectures publish decrees identifying the affected consumers, which may be used to set the order of priority if load shedding is implemented.

If your site consumed more than 5 GWh in 2021, GRTgaz’s upcoming load shedding survey will apply to you.

This survey is based on a questionnaire co-designed by GRDF and Teréga. It is structured as follows:

• An initial email from grtgaz-commercial@grtgaz.com informs you about the publication of the Decree and the upcoming survey,
• If you would like to form a group to sign the “load shedding questionnaire response agreement”, you should return your completed, signed agreement by 13 May 2022 to the following email address: grtgaz-commercial@grtgaz.com,
• On 20 May 2022, GRTgaz will launch the load shedding survey for all affected customers, taking account of any agreements it receives within the stated timeframe. GRTgaz has entrusted this process to the company ED Institut. You will receive an email from grtgaz-commercial@grtgaz.com containing a link to the load shedding survey, to be completed online before 20 July 2022.

To give you all the information you will need to prepare your responses, GRTgaz will be holding a webinar on the implementation of the load shedding Decree on 26 April at 11 a.m.

>> Access to the webinar on Teams