Le Pen Lawmaker Says France Needs 10-Year Regulated Power Prices

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is proposing to regulate electricity prices for 10 years to curb inflation, according to a party lawmaker, as it prepares for next year’s presidential election.

“Households or companies can’t commit to electrify uses with a price of power that’s so high and so erratic,” Maxime Amblard, a lawmaker in charge of energy policy for Le Pen’s party, said at a renewable-energy conference in Paris on Tuesday.

The National Rally is proposing a return to regulated electricity prices in France, while power traded with European neighbors would continue to be priced by the market, Amblard said. Domestic electricity prices would be fixed for 10 years based on the “real cost of production,” he said, without providing further details.

France, Europe’s biggest power exporter, generates most of its electricity from nuclear plants and renewables. While fossil-fuel costs have less influence on electricity bills than in neighboring countries, French power prices aren’t entirely insulated from the recent surge in gas prices.

Rising energy costs driven by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are putting European governments under pressure and taking center stage in France’s political debate ahead of next year’s presidential election.

To wean France off fossil fuels, the National Rally will support the construction of 20 new nuclear reactors, as well as the development of renewable gases, geothermal energy and heat pumps, Amblard said. He reiterated that Le Pen’s party would halt the development of new solar and wind projects in the country.

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