New off-peak hours: what changes, and when
Eight off-peak hours a day, as before, but some of them move to the afternoon. Work out what the change costs or earns you.
The reform of French off-peak hours (heures creuses) takes no hours away: every household on the Off-peak (HP/HC) option keeps 8 cheaper hours a day, at least 5 of them in a row at night, between 23:00 and 07:00. What changes is where they sit. To make use of solar output, Enedis, the distribution network operator, may move up to 3 of them to between 11:00 and 17:00, mostly in summer, from 1 April to 31 October. A first phase, from November 2025 to June 2026, covered 1.7 million customers with the same hours all year; the second, from December 2026 to October 2027, covers 9.3 million customers with summer and winter hours that differ. The price stays put: €0.1589 per off-peak kWh against €0.2142 at peak on the regulated tariff. The risk lies elsewhere: an appliance timed for the old slot now runs at the higher rate.
If you reprogram nothing
−€36
a year: those kWh move to peak hours
| If you use the afternoon off-peak hours | +€47 |
| Gap per kWh, peak against off-peak | €0.0553 |
| Off-peak hours a day | 8 h |
| Of which at least at night (23:00-07:00) | 5 h |
Off-peak option prices from 1 August 2026. Summer: 214 days (1 April-31 October).
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
The placement rules set by the regulator
The deliberation of 4 February 2026 by the CRE, the French energy regulator, replaced the rules table of the TURPE 7 network tariff with the one below. The network tariff distinguishes a high season, winter, and a low season, summer. For each it names the existing off-peak hours to move and the hours Enedis should place them in first.
| Season | Off-peak hours to move | Hours to favour |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (1 November - 31 March) | 07:00-11:00 and 17:00-21:00 | Free |
| Summer (1 April - 31 October) | 07:00-10:00 and 18:00-23:00 | 02:00-06:00 and 11:00-17:00 |
The same deliberation lifted the freeze that barred new customers from off-peak hours between 11:00 and 14:00. Enedis and RTE modelled the effect of these midday hours on the power system and concluded that last winter’s supply and the growth of solar allowed them. Every respondent to the public consultation was in favour.
The timetable, phase by phase
| Phase | Period | Customers | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 2025 - June 2026 | 1.7 million | same in summer and winter |
| 2 | December 2026 - October 2027 | 9.3 million | different in summer and winter |
| Businesses | second half of 2027 | all | at the end of the rollout |
The first phase targeted customers who already had some daytime off-peak hours, often badly placed early in the morning or early in the evening. The second, starting in December, reaches the bulk of households whose off-peak hours are all at night today. Enedis points out that slots vary with local network constraints, even between two streets of the same neighbourhood.
What the tool works out
The price of a kWh does not depend on when your off-peak slot falls: €0.1589 at night or in the afternoon, on the 1 August 2026 tariff. The change therefore only costs you something if your use does not follow the new slots. A water heater wired to the meter’s off-peak contact switches over by itself. A washing machine, dishwasher or car charger on a timer keeps starting at the old time, now a peak hour, and each misplaced kWh costs €0.0553 more. The afternoon slot works the other way in summer: a load started at 14:00 is billed at the off-peak rate. The tool does both sums over a year.
One practical point for summer: an afternoon slot only pays if someone, or something, is there to use it. Delayed-start appliances, a car plugged in at home or a water heater on the meter contact can; a household out all day with nothing programmed gains nothing from it, while still losing any old evening hours that were moved.
How to find your own slots and reprogram each appliance: see your off-peak hours times. To check whether the Off-peak option is still right for you: Base, Off-peak or Tempo.