EDF has been forced to widen access to its social tariff by the French energy ombudsman.

The French electricity giant was criticised for their failure to allow households with a power supply of over 9kVA access to their social tariff, called the Tarif de première nécessité (TPN).

This enables those on low incomes to receive a reduction of between 30% and 50% in their electricity bills.

In order to be eligible, your net income cannot be higher than €7,611 for a one person household, or €11,411 for a two person household, with further increases for larger households.

In a case that came before the Médiateur de l'énergie it was found that EDF were refusing access to those whose supply was greater than 9kVA, a level of supply that might be necessary if your property was heated by electric central heating!

Whilst the regulations do refer to 9kVA, the Médiateur argued that this was not a condition of access to the social tariff, merely the basis on which the tariff should be applied.

Around 625,000 households currently use the social tariff, although it is believed around 2 million households are eligible. Many do not apply simply because of poor publicity about the scheme.

In response to the Médiateur EDF have stated that they will no longer apply the 9kVA limit as a criteria for access, and they have promised a review of recent cases.

The French government has also promised legislation that will make more automatic the process of attribution of the social tariff to eligible households.