Good news for consumers. Gas prices continue to fall. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has just published the values of its benchmark sales price of natural gas for the month of March 2024. Between February and March 2024, the variable portion excluding taxes (HT) for a residential subscriber having opted for a cooking/hot water and heating type contract decreases by 4.66 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), thus continuing the decline observed over the past three months. Between December 2023 and March 2024, the variable portion excluding tax fell by 17.29 euros per MWh. “Market prices are today reaching particularly low levels,” notes the CRE.
“The variable portion, all taxes included (TTC), increased in January 2024 due to the change in the level of the Internal Tax on Natural Gas Consumption in January (TICGN), since largely offset by the drop in the tax-free portion. Thus on March 1, 2024, the variable part including tax decreases by 5.59 euros per MWh compared to the month of February. Since December 1, 2023, the variable part including tax has decreased by 11.14 euros per MWh,” underlines the CRE.
But be careful, what the CRE publishes is a benchmark price. The regulated gas sales prices (TRVG) have disappeared since June 30, 2023. This benchmark price is published for information only and on a monthly basis. It includes a subscription price and a kilowatt-hour price. Consumers who had not left the TRVG by June 30, 2023 were automatically transferred on July 1, 2023 to a default offer, called a “switchover offer”, with their historic supplier. At the same time, consumers who subscribed to a market offer whose evolution was indexed to the TRVG received the new contractual conditions of their offer.
This benchmark price is intended to serve as a compass for consumers who wish to compare supply offers from June 2023. The CRE invites TRVG consumers to compare the offers offered by the different suppliers in order to subscribe to the one that suits them best. . The National Energy Ombudsman’s offer comparator is a useful tool for this purpose.
