Annual Import/export balance

Contractual cross-border exchanges in 2007

The balance of contractual exchanges of electricity across France's borders remains positive, i.e. France remains a net exporter, with exports accounting for 12% of French demand.

In 2007, the exchange balance reached +55.5 TWh. This figure, which is down by 6.4 TWH (10%) on 2006, is explained by the reduction in exports, whilst imports remained stable.

This reflects the trend observed on the borders with continental European countries(1) (3.7 TWh) and with Spain (-3.8 TWh), whereas the export balance with England is rising (+1.1 TWh).

In 2007, the global volume of exchanges (exports + imports) was 6% (-7.4 TWh) lower than the previous year, following the reduction in the volumes exchanged across the borders with continental European countries (-6.9 TWh) and with England (-0.8 TWh), though volumes rose on the border with Spain (+0.3 TWh).

The overall drop in the volume of transactions with continental Europe was due to the reduced exchanges with Belgium (-5.5 TWh), Switzerland (-2.0 TWh) and Germany (-0.3 TWh), whereas transactions with Italy actually increased (+0.9 TWh)

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⁽¹⁾ Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.