Did the energy crisis that

hit Europe in 2022 come

to an end in 2024?

We cannot really say that it has ended. For the Mediation team,

2024 was almost as busy as 2023, when the number of mediation

cases doubled compared with 2022. Around 850 mediation cases

were received in 2024, an increase of 80% compared with 2022,

meaning that 1,060 cases were processed, an equivalent amount

to 2023, due to the backlog from 2023.

Why is this?

Firstly the government stopped providing aid to consumers as

well as gradually reducing the tarif f shield It can also be attrib

uted to the end of the benef icial threeyear f ixedprice contracts

taken out just before the 2022 crisis and the disappointment expe

rienced by customers when their contracts came up for renewal

postcrisis tarif fs have increased by 40 to 60 for all of them

Prices have not returned to the level they were at before the energy

crisis And f inally f ixedprice contracts taken out by professionals at

the height of the crisis are now less competitive amid falling energy

prices leading them to cancel or try and cancel their contracts

often resulting in high fees

In addition, 2024 has been dif ferent from previous years in two

respects:

- ENGIE Home Services has seen a sharp rise in mediation cases

(installation and maintenance of boilers, heat pumps, etc.): +37% in

2024 compared with 2023, bearing in mind that there had already

been a 50% increase in 2023 compared with 2022. This subsidi-

ary’s issues have led to its over-representation in overall mediation

cases, with the number of referrals increasing approximately two-

fold between 2022 and 2024.

- There has been a signif icant number of disputes involving small

businesses: the number of mediation cases remained virtually

stable between 2023 and 2024 but increased by 140% between

2022 and 2024 for the ENGIE Business Customers Division and

ENGIE Entreprises & Collectivités. It is important to remember

that “small” businesses, whose electricity meter has a power rating

of 36 kVA or less or whose gas consumption is less than 30000

kWh are subject to the provisions of the French Consumer Code

such as the 14month limit on backbilling of energy consumption

Therefore the Mediation team had to continue working in crisis

management mode to deal with the high number of mediation cases

The whole team rallied round and ENGIE provided us with additional

resources Despite the high number of referrals we worked hard to

maintain the quality of our analyses and our personalised approach

In view of the situation it was more important than ever for claim

ants to understand their situation and feel listened to

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each of

my twelve colleagues for their hard work and commitment As a

result there has been an increase in both the level of satisfaction

97 an alltime high and the success rate of mediations 87

vs 84 in 2023

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A look back

at 2024

Reading time:

4 MINUTES

JEAN-PIERRE HERVÉ,

Ombudsman for the ENGIE Group.

“The 2022 energy crisis

has continued into 2024!”

View all activity

reports by

the Ombudsman

for the ENGIE Group

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