Macron Urges Officials, Media To Stop Scaring French Citizens With Winter Power Outages

French President Emmanuel Macron urged public institutions and the media to stop scaring French citizens with "absurd scenarios" regarding power outages in winter

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2022) French President Emmanuel Macron urged public institutions and the media to stop scaring French citizens with "absurd scenarios" regarding power outages in winter.

"These debates are absurd. The role of state authorities and organizations is not to create fear and be driven by this fear. Their role is to do their job to provide people with electricity. This goes for everyone's responsibility and it lies in 'energy sobriety,' and not in scaring people with absurd scenarios. Stop all of that," Macron said in answer to a question about possible power outages at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Albania.

He later said that France was a great country, with great energy opportunities.

"We will withstand this winter, despite the war. I just ask everyone to do their job. The job of EDF (French electric utility corporation) is to maintain operations of power plants, the job of the government is planning, and everyone else should stick to energy sobriety," Macron said on air on French tv channel BFMTV.

On December 1, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne urged the country's citizens to reduce their consumption even more in order to avoid blackouts.

In turn, the head of the French power grid operator, RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, said that short-term power outages were possible in winter due to extreme load during periods of freezing temperatures.

In October, the French government presented its "energy sobriety" plan aimed at reducing energy consumption in order to prepare the country for the winter season in the absence of Russian gas supplies. According to this plan, room temperature in private and government buildings should not exceed 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit), while the temperature in commercial and industrial premises should be lowered to 16 degrees Celsius. Besides, the government might reduce the length of the heating season depending on weather conditions.

The French authorities have also approved a ban on illuminated advertising at night and stores leaving their doors open while the heating or air conditioning is turned on. The time during which stadiums are lit before and after events has been reduced by 50% in daytime and by 30% at night.