Bad weather: you are deprived of electricity, here is how to obtain compensation

1.2 million homes were cut off from electricity after Storm Ciaran hit the north-west of France on the night of November 1st to 2nd. More than two weeks later, a few thousand households are still plunged into darkness. The restoration of electricity is slow, especially when trees have fallen on the electricity network or poles have collapsed.

Compensation for long outages

Since 2021, the regulations provide for a lump sum compensation mechanism in the event of a long power outage. In detail, this device concerns “any power interruption lasting more than 5 hours due to a failure attributable to the public distribution network managed by the distribution network manager, including during exceptional events” according to the Deliberation of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) of January 21, 2021 (annex 7-Incentive regulation of power quality).

The compensation system is triggered by 5 consecutive hours of power outage. Its amount is set at 2 euros per kVA (kilovolt-ampere) of subscribed power per 5 hours of outage. For a 9 kVA contract, the recommended power for housing between 80 and 120 m2: the compensation is 18 euros for all installments. The compensation rises to 3.50 euros excluding tax when the subscribed power is greater than 36 kVA. Please note, the limit is set at 40 slices which represents 8 days and 8 hours of outage. The total amount is paid directly by the electricity manager to the energy supplier who then deducts it from the customer’s bill.

General cutoff or specific to your home

Furthermore, there are two types of failures. The power outage may first be specific to your home. It is then either linked to an overload of consumption – too many electronic devices are plugged in at the same time; or a short circuit – a faulty appliance or electrical outlet is the cause. In these two cases, you must look at the circuit breaker on the electrical panel: if it is on 0, the power cut is specific to the home. If it is on 1 and you have no power: it is a general outage, that is to say it concerns your entire building, your neighborhood, your city, etc.

When the breakdown is general, you must report it to the Enedis breakdown service on 09 726 750 XX, the last two digits correspond to those of your department. The page Enedis – Power cuts provides real-time information on power outages. Unless it is a load shedding, that is to say a voluntary cutoff by the Electricity Transport Network (RTE) on part of the network when consumption is too high. Generally, this type of outage lasts two hours. To keep informed of load shedding, it is possible to register on the dedicated list on the Ecowatt website.