French General Code of Local Authorities
In forceI.-Without prejudice to the provisions of article 23 of law no. 46-628 of 8 April 1946 on the nationalisation of electricity and gas, local and regional authorities or their public cooperation establishments, as licensing authorities for the public distribution of electricity and gas pursuant to article 6 of the loi du 15 juin 1906 sur les distributions d'énergie et de article 36 of the aforementioned law no. 46-628 of 8 April 1946, negotiate and conclude concession contracts, and exercise control over the proper performance of the public service missions laid down, as far as the conceding authorities are concerned, by the specifications of these concessions.
The aforementioned concession-granting authorities monitor the public electricity and gas distribution networks. To this end, they designate a control officer separate from the public distribution network operator.
Each electricity and gas distribution body makes available to each of the aforementioned conceding authorities on which it depends information of an economic, commercial, industrial, financial or technical nature useful for the exercise of the latter's powers, under the conditions provided for in articles L. 111-73, L. 111-77, L. 111-81 and L. 111-82 of the Energy Code. In addition, it communicates this information, on a scale allowing the control provided for in the second paragraph of this I, to the conceding authorities on which it depends, in the form of an annual report which includes, in particular, the gross value as well as the net book value, the replacement value of the works conceded for the distribution of electricity and the revalued net value of the works for the distribution of natural gas. A detailed inventory of these assets is also made available to each of the above-mentioned concession-granting authorities, at their request, in the case of electricity distribution. This inventory distinguishes between return assets, take-back assets and own assets. A decree sets the content of these documents and the deadlines for network operators to draw up detailed inventories. This information also includes, under conditions set by decree, the consumption and production data provided for in articles L. 111-73 and L. 111-77 of the Energy Code and which it manages, and data enabling the regional climate, air and energy plans and territorial climate-air-energy plans provided for in the articles L. 222-1 à L. 222-3, L. 229-25 and L. 229-26 of the Environment Code, as well as a detailed report on the concessionaire's contribution to the territorial climate-air-energy plans that concern it. Each electricity and gas distribution body sends each of the aforementioned conceding authorities a report on the network investment and development policy provided for in 1° of II of article 13 of law no. 2004-803 of 9 August 2004 relating to the public electricity and gas service and to electricity and gas companies. On the basis of this report, the organising authorities draw up a detailed report on the implementation of the provisional programme for all planned investments in the distribution network. This provisional programme, which specifies in particular the amount and location of the works, is drawn up at a departmental conference convened under the aegis of the prefect and sent to each of the concession-granting authorities.
Officials and agents from among those in charge of the control missions referred to in the previous paragraphs are authorised for this purpose by the mayor or by the president of the public cooperation establishment and sworn in under the conditions laid down by article 43 of the aforementioned law no. 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 for civil servants and agents authorised by the minister in charge of energy and for agents of the Commission de régulation de l'énergie authorised by its chairman. They are liable to a fine of 15,000 euros in the event of disclosure of the information provided for in Articles L. 111-81 and L. 111-82 of the Energy Code.
The organising authority of a public electricity and gas distribution network may carry out conciliation missions with a view to settling disputes relating to the emergency supply of electricity referred to in Article L. 333-3 of the same code or to the emergency or last-resort supply of gas referred to in Article L. 121-32 of the aforementioned code, which are submitted to it by eligible consumers connected to its network or their suppliers.
In application of the provisions of the fourth paragraph of article 36 of the aforementioned law no. 46-628 of 8 April 1946, the aforementioned local authorities and establishments may act as project managers for work to develop the public electricity and gas distribution networks. The same right is granted to local authorities and public cooperation establishments with jurisdiction over public electricity and gas distribution that have set up a distribution body referred to in article 23 of the aforementioned law no. 46-628 of 8 April 1946 or in III of this article.
The organising authority of a public electricity distribution network referred to in IV may receive aid to finance part of the cost of the work referred to in article L. 322-6 of the Energy Code which it manages in application of the sixth paragraph on the rural facilities of this network, particularly when this work is intended to facilitate the integration of renewable energies on the network and the development of flexibility services.
Actions relating to energy savings by low-voltage gas or electricity end consumers that may be carried out or commissioned by the organising authorities of a public electricity or gas distribution network must have the purpose or effect of avoiding or deferring the extension or reinforcement of the public distribution networks under their jurisdiction.
Under the same conditions, the organising authority of a public electricity distribution network may receive this aid for the implementation, in rural municipalities, of electricity demand management operations, electricity production using renewable energies and other actions contributing to the achievement of the energy policy objectives mentioned in articles L. 100-1 to L. 100-4 of the Energy Code, in particular 4° of I of article L. 100-4 of the same code, as well as, in areas not interconnected to the continental metropolitan network, for the construction of the local production facilities mentioned in article L. 2224-33 of this code, when these various operations make it possible to directly or indirectly avoid network extensions or reinforcements. The organising authority of a public electricity distribution network may also receive this aid for carrying out exceptional operations in connection with the public electricity distribution network that contribute to the energy transition, are innovative in nature and meet a specific local need.
The annual distribution of aid is decided by the Minister responsible for energy, following the opinion of a council made up, in particular, of at least two-fifths of representatives of local authorities and public establishments that are contracting authorities for works and chaired by a member chosen from among these representatives, taking into account the inventory of needs compiled every two years in each department from the contracting authorities for the works mentioned in article L. 322-6 of the energy code. When the inventory of these requirements is carried out using a statistical method, the public electricity distribution system operator submits the results of its estimate in advance for approval by the contracting authorities mentioned in the first sentence of this paragraph, who supplement these results where necessary in order to take into account the additional requirements resulting from actual measurements carried out in the field to check compliance with the quality levels mentioned in article L. 322-12 of the Energy Code.
A decree in the Conseil d'Etat, issued after consulting the council provided for in the penultimate paragraph of this I, defines the concept of rural municipalities benefiting from this aid on the basis, in particular, of population density, as well as the categories of work mentioned in the seventh to ninth paragraphs of this I, and lays down the rules for awarding the aid and the procedures for managing it.
I bis.- For the financing of aid to local authorities for the purchase of electricity, a decree in the Conseil d'Etat is required.To finance aid to local authorities for rural electrification, public distribution system operators are required to pay a contribution based on the number of kilowatt-hours distributed from facilities operated at low voltage during the year preceding that in which the contribution is paid. The rate of this contribution is set annually at the beginning of the financial year concerned by order of the ministers responsible for the budget and energy after consultation with the council mentioned in the penultimate paragraph of I. This rate is between:
a) Between 0.03 and 0.05 euro cents per kilowatt-hour for municipalities with a population of less than 2,000;
b) Between 0.15 and 0.25 euro cents per kilowatt-hour for other municipalities.
The rate set in b must be at least equal to five times the rate set in a.
Public distribution system operators pay their contribution to the accountants of the general directorate of public finance in the same way as for turnover taxes. Delay in paying the contribution incurs the late payment penalties provided for in Article 1727 of the General Tax Code.
II.-.To ensure compliance with the principles and conditions set out in article 1 of the aforementioned law no. 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 and article 16 of the aforementioned law no. 2003-8 of 3 January 2003, decrees in the Council of State will set out as necessary:
procedures and special requirements applicable to the specifications of concessions and the service regulations of public utilities;
rules and technical performance indicators designed to meet the objectives of safety and quality of electricity and gas delivered;
the standards relating to visual integration and environmental protection applicable to public distribution networks;
the conditions under which the concession-granting authorities may have their concessionaire take charge of operations to control demand for electricity or network energy;
the financial conditions of concessions in terms of fees and penalties.
III.-Communes, their public establishments for inter-communal cooperation or their mixed syndicates that do not have a public natural gas distribution network or whose service works are not in progress may grant a concession for the public distribution of gas to any company approved for this purpose by the Minister responsible for energy, under the conditions specified in article 25-1 of the aforementioned law no. 2003-8 of 3 January 2003. These municipalities and establishments may set up a public utility approved by the minister responsible for energy, use an existing establishment of this type or participate in an existing semi-public company.
IV.The function of a public electricity distribution network is to serve end consumers and electricity producers connected at medium and low voltage.
The organising authority for a public distribution network, whether operated by a public utility or under a concession, is the municipality or public cooperation establishment to which it has transferred this responsibility, or the department if it exercises this responsibility on the date of publication of the loi n° 2004-803 du 9 août 2004 relative au service public de l'électricité et du gaz et aux entreprises électriques et gazières. However, when the powers provided for in this article are not exercised by the department for public electricity distribution networks or, at the end of a period of one year following the date of publication of the loi n° 2006-1537 du 7 décembre 2006 relative au secteur de l'énergie, par un unique syndicat de communes ou syndicat mixte sur l'ensemble du territoire départemental ou sur un ensemble de territoires départementaux contigues ni par un groupement de collectivités territoriales dont la population est au moins égale à un million d'habitants, the representative(s) of the State in the department(s) shall, in accordance with the provisions of 2° of I of article L. 5211-5 or Article 61 of Law no. 2010-1563 of 16 December 2010 on the reform of local and regional authorities, the procedure for creating a syndicate of communes or a mixed syndicate to exercise these powers over the whole of the departmental territory or over a group of contiguous departmental territories. In the absence of a single organising authority for the departmental territory, the electricity quality assessment carried out in application of article 21-1 of the aforementioned law no. 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 is forwarded by the public network operator(s) concerned to a conference, where this has been set up between all the organising authorities in the department under the conditions provided for in article L. 5221-2.
Subject to the provisions of articles 12 and 24 of the aforementioned law no. 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 and articles 10 and 37 of the aforementioned law no. 2004-803 of 9 August 2004, a public distribution network is made up of the facilities with a voltage of less than 50 kV located within the territory of the electricity distribution organising authority as well as the existing facilities with a higher voltage, in mainland metropolitan France on the date of publication of the aforementioned law no. 2004-803 of 9 August 2004 and not operated by Electricité de France as a public transmission system operator on that same date. A Conseil d'Etat decree defines, in particular for transformer stations, the conditions under which the facilities or parts of facilities belong to the public distribution networks, in particular as regards their characteristics, their functions or the date on which they were brought into service.
V.-When, in municipalities merged prior to the publication of the aforementioned law no. 2004-803 of 9 August 2004, electricity or gas distribution is provided by separate distribution bodies, the distribution organising authority may, notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, entrust one of these bodies with distribution throughout the territory of the municipality on the date of its choice.
If the authority to organise the distribution of electricity or gas has been transferred, in one of these municipalities, to a public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation prior to the publication of the aforementioned law no. 2004-803 of 9 August 2004, this municipality may, notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, be authorised by the representative of the State in the department, following the opinion of the departmental commission for inter-municipal cooperation meeting in the formation provided for in the second paragraph of article L. 5211-45, to withdraw from the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation when this establishment does not decide to exercise the right provided for in the first paragraph of this V.
VI.-As part of its public electricity and gas distribution missions, the organising authority of a public electricity and gas distribution network may contribute to the deployment of renewable or low-carbon hydrogen production facilities, within the meaning of Article L. 811-1 of the Energy Code, located on its territory.
