The Minister for Energy, Maud Bregeon, announced on Saturday April 18 that the “social leasing” system for electric cars will begin in July. Around 50,000 low-income households are targeted by this offer. At the same time, the minister refused to suspend aid for the energy transition requested by distributors.
The government had previously mentioned making it available in June, but… The new offer of electric vehicles at low rent (known as “social leasing”) “will open from July”, said Minister Delegate for Energy Maud Bregeon on Saturday April 18, who also ruled out the suspension of energy saving certificates requested by fuel distributors.
Who is affected?
“We are first targeting 50,000 cars for low-income French people, who earn less than 2,200 euros per month on average,” who will have “an out-of-pocket cost of between 100 and 200 euros per month”, she told the newspaper West France.
No question of suspending the “CEE”
Concerning the request from fuel distributors to suspend energy savings certificates (EEC) for three months to lower prices at the pump, Maud Bregeon dismissed them. “We must end our dependence on imported fossil fuels […]. Giving up overnight the aid that supports the French in this transition would be nonsense. exclaimed the minister.
“These devices are essential for purchasing power: to depend less on gas for heating, to facilitate the transition from a thermal vehicle to an electric car…”, she pointed out.
A draft government decree to regulate margins on fuel prices has sparked an outcry from distributors, who are instead pleading for the suspension of EECs, contributions paid by energy suppliers according to the “polluter pays” principle and which make it possible to finance decarbonization actions.
A “point” planned with distributors on Monday
“No publication of this decree has been made to date but everyone must play the game. In a few days, the price of a barrel has fallen from 115 dollars to less than 90 dollars. This drop must be seen in the prices at the pump,” said Maud Bregeon to West France, specifying that a new “point” with the distributors would be done on Monday.
As for the sectors penalized by the surge in fuel prices, “the Prime Minister has tasked us with working on a second wave of activity aid for May”, confirmed the minister, referring to “the fishermen” dont “the situation is still very critical” or “the construction sector, for which the effects of current prices are sometimes becoming difficult to sustain”.
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