Gas consumption in France and Czechia in 2023 reached its lowest point in about three decades. According to the French gas transmission system operator (TSO) GRTgaz, gas consumption in France decreased by 11.4% in 2023, reflecting new behaviours in terms of gas use and conservation. This drop comes despite a stabilisation of gas prices in Europe and a return to their pre-Ukraine war levels. In 2022, gas consumption in France had already fallen by 9%. In 2023, gas consumption by public distribution (households, tertiary and small industry), adjusted for climate, declined by 6.5% compared to 2022, while consumption by industrial customers connected to the GRTgaz network decreased by 7.4%. In addition, thanks to a rise in nuclear power generation, gas consumption to produce electricity in 2023 returned to 2021 levels, down 40% compared to 2022.
As for Czechia, gas consumption fell by 10.4% in 2023, according to the country's Energy Regulatory Office (ERU). Although the year-on-year decrease in consumption is also due to warmer weather, gas consumption still decreased by 8.1% after being adjusted for climate. The drop in consumption is apparent across all categories of customers: wholesale customers (-9.6%), medium-sized customers (-10.8%), retail customers (-10.3%) and households (-11.6%). Czechia, traditionally very dependent on Russian gas, saw its gas imports fall by 71% in 2023, and its exports drop by 94%. In 2023, 92% of Czech gas imports came through the German border, while only 8% were through Slovakia, the traditional route for Russian pipeline gas. Czechia has diversified away from near total dependency on Russian gas since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, turning to gas from Norway and LNG.