Find the practical details of the power cuts that could take place this winter and download the Ecowatt application to be informed of the situation on a daily basis.

What happens when the electrical system is energized?

When we all consume electricity at the same time, especially on weekdays during peak hours, our electrical system may not be able to meet all of our needs.

In this case, the Electricity Transmission Network (RTE) manager issues an "Ecowatt orange" or "Ecowatt red" alert to call on companies, local authorities and citizens to reduce their electricity consumption, between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

If mobilization is sufficient, the electrical system is relieved and the risk of cuts is eliminated.
If the mobilization is insufficient, RTE may be required, two or three days after the first “Ecowatt red” alert, to ask the distributors to carry out localized and temporary power cuts. They are implemented as a last resort (on D-Day) to avoid a major outage.
The Ecowatt device
How does the Ecowatt alert system work?
Ecowatt, a real barometer of electricity consumption in France, is a simple tool that qualifies the level of electricity consumption of the French in real time.
The signal is:

Green: no alert.
Orange: the electrical system is strained. Electricity saving gestures are welcome.
Red: the system is very tense. Electricity saving actions are essential to avoid or reduce power cuts.

To be informed of the situation on a daily basis, download the Ecowatt application.

In the event of an orange or red signal, the objective is to adopt simple actions to reduce our consumption between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

At work, it is recommended to:

Lower the temperature and limit the lighting in your workplace.
Delay the charging of electrical devices.

At home :

Start your washing machine, dryer, hotplates and oven after 8 p.m.
Ensure that the temperature of the accommodation is 19 degrees and lower the temperature of the accommodation to 16 or 17 degrees in the event of absence during the day or at night.
Limit hot water consumption.
Turn off all devices that are on or on standby when not in use.
Limit the number of lights on in rooms and turn off all unoccupied rooms.
Limit viewing of streaming videos during peak hours (download these contents during off-peak hours).
For example, if all French households heated with electricity lower the temperature by one degree on average, this saves 1.3 gigawatts (GW) during the morning peak, equivalent to the consumption of a city like Marseille. .

Organized power cuts, what are they?
These are power cuts:

Organized: they are planned and implemented as a last resort, when all available levers have been activated and electricity savings are insufficient.
Localized: they are targeted by geographical area of 2,000 customers on average (households and professionals) supplied by the same power line. This corresponds to a district in town and up to several municipalities in rural areas. Several power lines, spread over the territory, are affected simultaneously. They do not therefore concern the whole population.
Temporary: they last 2 hours for the consumers concerned and are limited to what is strictly necessary in order to limit the inconvenience caused.
All French people in mainland France (excluding Corsica), regardless of their electricity contract, may be affected by these organized blackouts, with the exception of a few very large electricity consumers who are directly connected to the RTE transmission network. .

On the other hand, they do not concern priority sites defined as sensitive sites such as hospitals, emergency services, police stations and gendarmerie brigades, departmental fire and rescue services (SDIS), prison centres, certain transport infrastructures, industrial sites at risk or of interest to national defense or even sites essential to their management (crisis centers in particular for EDF, RTE, Enedis, etc.).

What time can power cuts occur?

If they must be triggered, power cuts will take place on weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. These time slots correspond to peak electricity consumption.

French people, companies and local authorities are invited to reduce their consumption by simple actions, in particular during these two consumption peaks:

Set the heating to 19 degrees maximum and to 16 or 17 degrees in the event of absence and to