Key points
- Since November 1, 2026, France’s Tempo red-day selection follows a new method, with December 24 and 31 excluded.
- The season still includes 22 red days; daytime electricity on those days costs €0.7295 per kilowatt-hour under the August schedule.
- Existing subscribers need no contract change. Check tomorrow’s color and schedule flexible electricity use outside the expensive daytime window.
- Earlier official notification is scheduled for November 2027; this winter, the reference announcement remains the morning before.
Contents
EDF Tempo customers in France entered winter under revised red-day rules on Sunday, November 1, 2026. The change concerns how the most expensive days are selected, rather than a new electricity price or a requirement to re-enroll.
The CRE’s October 21 decision establishes the reform. CRE is France’s energy regulator; RTE operates the high-voltage transmission grid and selects the Tempo colors used by electricity suppliers.
Tempo keeps three colors and six electricity prices
Tempo is an option within EDF’s regulated electricity tariff. Its September-to-August season assigns a color to each day, then applies separate daytime and overnight prices.
The season that began September 1, 2026, contains 300 blue days, 43 white days and 22 red days. Blue is the cheapest category, white sits between the other two, and red creates the strongest incentive to reduce daytime consumption.
Red days can fall only between November 1 and March 31, excluding weekends and national public holidays. November 1 was a Sunday this year, making Monday, November 2 the earliest eligible date, rather than an announced first red day.
According to the August 1, 2026 schedule reproduced by JeChange, the consumption prices below include tax. The standing subscription charge is additional.
| Day color | Days per season | Off-peak, €/kWh | Peak, €/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 300 | 0.1356 | 0.1654 |
| White | 43 | 0.1536 | 0.1921 |
| Red | 22 | 0.1615 | 0.7295 |
Peak hours run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; off-peak hours run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., fixed hours that remain unchanged.
The reform changes selection, not the annual quota
The new approach aligns red days with the method RTE uses to identify high-stress days in France’s electricity capacity mechanism. That mechanism helps ensure sufficient electricity capacity is available when demand puts the system under pressure.
RTE’s methodology compares forecast demand, after subtracting forecast wind and solar generation, with predetermined thresholds. A guide curve and cumulative monthly ranges also govern how days accumulate through winter.
Hello Watt explains the January example as 13 to 19 red days by month-end. That is the cumulative total since November, not a requirement to put that many red days in January alone.
The regulator changed the system after the mild winter of 2025–2026 ended with 13 successive red weekdays in March. Those days were needed to complete the quota, despite not representing particularly high residual demand.
A separate change excludes December 24 and December 31 from red-day selection. The latter had been red in 2025, prompting complaints; Ecowatt, RTE’s public electricity-stress warning system, can instead request consumption reductions on those holiday evenings.
Historical testing found a maximum of three quota-clearing days with the replacement method, compared with 13 under the previous system in winter 2025–2026. That comparison comes from simulations and is not a guarantee for this winter.
Household savings depend on when electricity is used
At the listed prices, red peak electricity costs approximately 4.4 times blue peak electricity. Consuming 10 kWh costs about €7.30 during red peak hours, versus €1.65 during blue peak hours.
Moving that same 10 kWh to red off-peak hours cuts its energy cost to about €1.62, a saving of roughly €5.68 before any standing charge.
The relevant question is how much demand you can move. A home with controllable hot water, flexible appliance schedules or an existing alternative heating system has more scope to avoid expensive hours.
Electric heating requires a closer calculation. A household needing substantial daytime heating on red days faces a different bill from one with little electric heating or limited daytime occupancy.
Low electricity consumption reduces both the potential blue-day savings and the red-day exposure. Compare an annual consumption profile, including subscription costs, rather than choosing from the cheapest advertised kilowatt-hour alone.
About 900,000 customers were reported on Tempo in 2025; that is not a current count.
Set alerts now; earlier notice arrives next winter
No application is required to receive the revised selection rules on an existing Tempo contract. The useful preparation is to establish how the household will respond when a red day is announced.
- Activate SMS or email notifications in your EDF customer account, or enable EDF & MOI app alerts.
- Check the confirmed next-day color before setting appliance timers.
- Move flexible laundry, dishwasher cycles and electric-vehicle charging outside red peak hours.
- Review heating and hot-water schedules so avoidable consumption does not continue through the expensive window.
RTE’s reference publication remains at 10:30 a.m. the day before this winter.
A Tempo billing day starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 6 a.m. the following morning. After a red Thursday, for example, the red off-peak price continues from midnight until 6 a.m. Friday, even if Friday’s daytime color differs.
The next notification change takes effect November 1, 2027. RTE plans selection two days ahead before noon when possible, with the official Tempo announcement following within an hour of the peak-period selection.