The French government is considering raising the tax on a preferential energy tariff granted to employees of the gas and electricity sector, a perk that lets them pay on average just 2% of what ordinary households are billed for the same electricity or gas, according to a report published in mid-July by the Cour des comptes, France's public auditing body.
The discount, known in France as the "tarif agent," is available to all employees and retirees of EDF (Electricite de France), RTE (Reseau de Transport d'Electricite) and Enedis, as well as some employees of Engie. Some union officials dispute the Cour des comptes figure, putting the real discount closer to 10% of what households pay on average.
Either way, the gap is large. A typical household pays an average annual electricity bill of 1,291 euros, according to the report, while a household in which one parent works for an energy supplier pays just 25.82 euros a year for the same level of consumption, roughly fifty times less.
Why the tax bill could change
The discount counts as part of an employee's pay and is therefore taxable. According to information gathered by TF1, the government does not plan to scrap the benefit itself, but to raise the amount of it that is subject to tax.
In one example cited in TF1's report, an employee had until now only had to declare 645 euros of the benefit for tax purposes. Under the proposed change, they may soon have to declare the full value of the in-kind advantage, 1,291 euros, and pay more income tax as a result.
In a street interview for TF1's evening news, one woman said she was not sure staff should pay much less than everyone else, but thought it was probably fair for them to get some kind of reduction. Another passerby said he did not know exactly what energy workers earned, but felt that if their pay was around the average, the advantage could reasonably be reduced.
A privilege dating back to 1945
The reduced tariff dates to the postwar creation of France's nationalised electricity and gas system. Myriam Maestroni, president of the think tank E5T, told TF1 that wages in the sector were fairly low in the postwar years, and that giving staff a reduced tariff served as a form of extra pay to make up for it.
The Cour des comptes has estimated that taxing the full value of the benefit would bring the French state an additional 235 million euros in revenue.
Unions call a strike
Electricity and gas workers are determined to defend the perk. A group of unions called a strike for Tuesday, September 15. The coalition, known as the intersyndicale and made up of the CGT, CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO unions, said turnout among strikers was expected to be high.
Fabrice Coudour, general secretary of the FNME-CGT, the largest union in the sector, told the AFP news agency that for workers the benefit was really a totem, a symbol they hold as non-negotiable. He added that the pay scale for France's electricity and gas industries, known as the IEG, starts below the national minimum wage, the SMIC.
The Cour des comptes report has also raised questions about the future of preferential tariffs for the roughly 300,000 current and former EDF employees who benefit from them, though no decision on scrapping the tariffs themselves has been announced.
