Base, Off-peak or Tempo: which option costs you least?
Enter your annual consumption and meter power: the cost of all three options appears at once, standing charge included.
France’s regulated blue tariff comes with three options. Base bills every kilowatt-hour at one price, €0.2001 at 6 kVA since 1 August 2026. Off-peak (HP/HC) bills €0.1589 during eight hours set by Enedis and €0.2142 the rest of the time, for the same standing charge. Tempo, from 6 kVA, offers lower prices 343 days a year but charges €0.7295 at peak time on the 22 red days. The right choice therefore depends on three things: how much of your use goes on heating, how much you place at night, and how much you are willing to shift on red days. The comparison takes all three into account, and spreads your heating over the colours the way national heating demand measured by RTE spreads.
Cheapest option: Off-peak (HP/HC)
€1,797
a year, standing charge included · Saving against the dearest option: €90
| Base * | €1,827 |
| Off-peak (HP/HC) | €1,797 |
| Tempo | €1,887 |
* Base closed to new contracts above 6 kVA
Your Tempo consumption by colour
Of which red days: €526 (991 kWh)
Assumptions: heating share 48 %, spread like national heating demand over past Tempo seasons (RTE); regulated tariff of 1 August 2026.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
What the calculation does with your answers
Annual consumption is split in two. The baseline, twelve times your summer month, is spread evenly over the year: 300 blue days, 43 white, 22 red. Heating follows the cold-weather profile measured by RTE: 19.4 % falls on red days and 29.4 % on white days, averaged over the 12 completed seasons of éCO2mix. Each kWh is then billed at the price of its colour and hour, and each option’s standing charge for your power is added.
Base is closed to new contracts above 6 kVA: the tool still works it out for those who kept it and flags it with an asterisk. Tempo does not exist at 3 kVA; at that power only Base and Off-peak, open to 3 kVA since 1 August 2026, are compared.
The same household at four heating levels
| Heating share | Base | Off-peak | Tempo | Tempo, half shifted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 % | €1,827 | €1,797 | €1,680 | €1,591 |
| 25 % | €1,827 | €1,797 | €1,789 | €1,650 |
| 50 % | €1,827 | €1,797 | €1,898 | €1,710 |
| 65 % | €1,827 | €1,797 | €1,963 | €1,746 |
The more heating weighs, the more red days cost and the more effort matters. With no effort Tempo falls behind Off-peak from 50 % heating; with half of red-day peak use shifted, it stays the cheapest option across the whole grid. The guide does Tempo pay off for you works out that threshold on your own figures.
Limits of the calculation
Your heating does not follow the national curve exactly: a very well insulated house heats less than average in a cold snap, a poorly insulated one more. A real season’s red days depend on the winter; the profile used is an average of twelve winters. Nor does the calculation know your exact off-peak hours, only the share you give it. For the closest result, enter a year of Tempo meter readings on the Tempo prices page.