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Emmanuel Macron PA

Macron urges French to reduce energy by 10%

He said energy rationing plans are being prepared ‘in case’ they are needed, and that ‘cuts will happen as a last resort’.

FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron is calling for a 10% reduction in the country’s energy use in coming weeks and months to avoid the risk of rationing and cuts this winter, amid tensions with supplier Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Macron warned yesterday that forced energy savings might have to be considered in coming months if voluntary efforts are not sufficient.

He said energy rationing plans are being prepared “in case” they are needed, and that “cuts will happen as a last resort”.

“The best energy is that which we don’t consume,” the French leader said at a news conference, where he urged French businesses and households to save energy, including by turning down heating and air conditioning.

Speaking after a videoconference yesterday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,  Macron announced a plan to boost gas supplies to Germany from France to make up for a drop in Russian gas supplies from the east.

In exchange, Macron said Germany will continue supplying electricity to France to make up for shortages caused by maintenance under way on many French nuclear reactors.

The leaders spoke before an emergency European Union energy ministers meeting on Friday about how the continent can coordinate to keep warm this winter if Russia cuts off gas supplies.

Macron said France and Germany support the idea of requiring energy companies that are making big profits on recent spikes in gas and oil prices to make some sort of “contribution” to public coffers, and a price cap on Russian gas.

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    Mute Ronnie Smith
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    Sep 6th 2022, 10:37 AM

    We get most of our gas by pipeline through the UK. It’s not outside the bounds of possibilities that Truss will cut this off in the event of a trade war with the EU.

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    Mute Paul O Meara
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    Sep 6th 2022, 9:30 AM

    I honestly think we will half to cut ours by 50 percent the way things are going

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    Mute Paolo Fandango
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    Sep 6th 2022, 10:23 AM

    Might anyone know the ratio of residential demand/ usage versus commercial / industrial?

    Most non res operations already operate on very tight usage measures due to the huge costs so i would imagine it’s hard for them to reduce usage with much impact.

    And if res usage is say 30% of demand the a reduction of 10% here isn’t going to do much at 3% of a cut to demand.

    Curious on the numbers if anyone might know them for Ireland.

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Sep 6th 2022, 6:16 PM

    @Paolo Fandango: Maybe we could ‘stick it to Putin’ by having a steady gas and oil market. That will drive the market price back down. Uncertainty is bad for business and prices rise in a sellers market. We should buy his discounted gas steadily and commit to buying more to screw him over. Even if Russia earns the same as they are earning now, we will have their gas for cheap and Russia will have lost some of it’s natural resources.

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    Mute Adam Kelly
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    Sep 6th 2022, 6:27 PM

    @Jim Smith: ? that’s not how any of this works. i actually don’t know which part of this comment to begin with

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Sep 6th 2022, 7:03 PM

    @Adam Kelly: Make an effort if you like so that I can offer a rebuttal. Stating that something is so incorrect that you wouldn’t know ‘where to start’ is pretty weak and meaningless.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Sep 6th 2022, 10:20 AM

    Hard to believe that people would need to be told this.

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    Mute Paolo Fandango
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    Sep 6th 2022, 10:27 AM

    @Justin Gillespie: I would imagine that there are a huge portion of people who can easily afford the rising costs. It’s these people i feel he is asking to make cuts

    The same is probably true in Ireland. Plenty of folks with money could happily keep consuming and easily absorb the costs thinking they’re not affecting anyone else , but their over consumption is indeed an issue in terms of over all demand.

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Sep 6th 2022, 6:11 PM

    @Paolo Fandango: Yes, not only should we not have showers longer than five minutes or adequately heat our homes this winter, we should also turn against our neighbors if we see that they have warm homes and have steam coming from the bathroom window. Elderly people are the greediest when it comes to heat, we should start with them…

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    Mute Paolo Fandango
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    Sep 6th 2022, 11:02 PM

    @Jim Smith: what?

    Im not advocating for some sort of anonymous phone line to rat out your neighbours. Not really sure where you got your odd interpretation of my opinion.

    I’m simply stating that wealthier folks are probably the target of this ask because they may not feel the pinch and therefore not be likely to feel the need to reduce energy.

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