France to double state support to increase use of electricity as energy source
- By Reuters -
- Apr 10, 2026
PARIS: France will spend up to 10 billion euros ($11.72 billion) annually through to 2030 to help the country switch to using electricity instead of oil and gas and their derivative fuels, marking a doubling of current state support, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.
The measures, which include boosting the use of electric vehicles through to modernising heating in homes, are meant to help wean the country off imported energy to avoid future disruptions like that caused by the current war in Iran, which has paralysed seaborne oil and gas cargoes transiting the Strait of Hormuz and destroyed energy infrastructure in the Middle East.
“Today 60 percent of our energy consumption comes from these imported fossil fuels, though our domestically produced nuclear power is three times cheaper,” Lecornu said in a televised address.
“As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price of other people’s wars, which unfortunately will continue and will impoverish us,” he added.
France will aim to replace 85 Terawatt-hours worth of gas, or 20% of France’s annual gas import bill, with domestic electricity by 2030.
France also plans to install an additional one million heat pumps every year between now and 2030, and block new gas boilers for heating in newly constructed housing beginning next year.