French oil and gas upstream group has announced that it would start selling electricity to non-household customers in France in 2016 and that it targeted an 8% market share within 10 years. The company is already active on the gas market, selling 22 TWh to 20,000 business customers (35,000 sites).
The company will benefit from the end of "yellow" and "green" tariffs proposed by EDF to large consumers (36 kVA), i.e. the end of regulated electricity tariffs for business consumers as of 1 January 2016. So far, only 12% of eligible consumers have subscribed to a market contract and 423,000 sites still have to choose a market offer.
Low wholesale electricity prices since 2014 have enabled alternative suppliers such as ENGIE, E.ON or Direct Energie to offer lower tariffs than EDF. Total, which will purchase power on the wholesale market, expects this situation to continue over 2016. The group aims to supply electricity and gas to 175,000 sites within 10 years and to triple its sales volumes (2/3 gas and 1/3 electricity).