the government denies wanting to install a “temperature police” in companies

To reassure. This is what the government is doing as the energy crisis continues to monopolize the start of the school year and to worry a good part of the French. For the past few days, the executive has been hammering a message: to save energy at home or in the confines of his office, the ambient temperature must be at 19 degrees. A recommendation also reiterated by the President of the Republic himself in his press conference on energy last Monday. And this, in order to avoid certain cuts which could occur in the event of overconsumption or shortages of gas or electricity. It is in this context that Le Canard Enchaîné indicates, in its Wednesday edition, that this temperature advice should be controlled… and even sanctioned.

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According to the weekly, the Defense Council devoted to energy at the end of last week evoked the hypothesis of a “temperature police”. Which would have been proposed by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate in charge of Industry. For the newspaper, a state official could inspect the temperature in businesses. Asked Wednesday morning, Roland Lescure ruled out this possibility. “No, we won’t put a law enforcement officer behind every thermostat, specifies the member of the government on BFMTV. The objective is that everyone can integrate, in their behavior both households, all of us at home, but especially companies, the way in which collectively we will contribute to this sobriety. We bet on responsibility and we believe in it.“If he does not wish to mention”the discussions that took place within the National Defense Council“, he affirms it: there will be no “temperature font“.

Since the end of the summer, the executive has been preparing minds for a possible difficult winter in terms of energy supply. Consequences of inflation and the war in Ukraine, these issues have been the subject of extensive government communication. She also began with a speech byEmmanuel Macron during the Council of Ministers back to school on August 24 when he referred to the “end of abundance». Expression that had provoked the ire of the opposition. Before the Medef at the end of August, the Prime Minister had stressed that if rationingwere to take place, “companies would be the first affected”.

Call for energy sobriety

There followed a broad call for energy “sobriety” for the coming weeks. Even if the government knows that some households already consume little for lack of means. “The 12 million people in a precarious situation, by construction, practice sobriety, they do not choose it (…). We finance associations that help them choose the right energy solutions so as to reduce their bills and be able to heat themselves properly“, In particular, indicated last Tuesday the Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher on CNews.

Objective : “Let all the French be at 19 degrees. Those who are today at 15, I want them to be at 19 degrees.If the government wants to be reassuring, it does not exclude a few power cuts in neighborhoods or households. A decision taken by RTE, the manager of the electricity transmission network. “Rotating load shedding”if all the wrong assumptions come together», as Élisabeth Borne recalled on TMC a week ago.