EDF, Engie, Total CEOs Urge Energy Savings to Prepare for Winter

(Bloomberg) -- The chief executives of Electricite de France SA, Engie SA and TotalEnergies SE urged French companies and consumers to immediately conserve electricity, gas and oil to be better prepared for winter amid mounting concerns about shortages tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We must collectively take action on energy demand by reducing our consumption to recoup margins of maneuver,” Jean-Bernard Levy, Catherine MacGregor and Patrick Pouyanne said in a joint opinion piece Sunday in Le Journal du Dimanche. “We will need them to manage the coming consumption peaks and to smooth out technical events or geopolitical shocks that we may have to face.”

Acting as soon as this summer, notably by preserving gas reserves, will make France better prepared ahead of this winter, the bosses of the country’s largest energy groups wrote. France must immediately make a huge collective effort to boost energy efficiency, which will in turn lift the purchasing power of households and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, they wrote. The country must massively invest in low-carbon energies, while Europe must reinforce power and gas interconnections, the said.

The call comes after the French government said Thursday it would confer with companies and local authorities to come up with a plan for curbing energy use this autumn. It’s also planning to present a draft bill in the coming weeks to boost the development of renewable energies and is pushing for gas companies to fill up storages as soon as possible.

Read more: EU Leaders Brace for Hard Winter as Russia Tightens Gas Grip

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