France's reference gas price rises 6.6% for November on higher September wholesale prices
Victoria Shinder1 min readFrance's energy regulator, the Commission de régulation de l'énergie (CRE), has set the reference gas sales price (PRVG) for November 2026 at 194.90 euros per MWh including tax, up 6.6% from 182.88 euros on 1 October.
What the PRVG is. France has had no regulated gas tariff since 1 July 2023. To help households compare supply offers, CRE publishes a monthly benchmark price. It is not an offer anyone can sign up to, but part of the offers on the market are indexed to it.
Why it rose. The price has three parts: supply, network and storage charges, and taxes. Only the supply component changes on 1 November. That component is based 80% on the month-ahead index and 20% on the quarter-ahead index, both averages of EEX futures quotations over the preceding month. Wholesale gas prices were higher in September than in August, and that is what moves the benchmark.
What it means for bills. CRE puts the impact at about 12 euros including tax on average in November for consumers whose offer is indexed to the PRVG. Households on fixed-price offers — about 40% of residential gas customers at the end of 2025 — are not affected.
The year as a whole. If the situation stays roughly stable until the end of the year, CRE estimates that the average annual gas bill for 2026 could be 11% higher than in 2025, or about 135 euros including tax, because prices at the start of the year were relatively low. At 30 June 2026, 10.23 million households had a natural-gas contract.
Source: CRE, "Le prix repère de vente de gaz augmente de 6,6 % TTC au 1er novembre 2026" — https://www.cre.fr/actualites/toute-lactualite/le-prix-repere-de-vente-de-gaz-augmente-de-66-ttc-au-1er-novembre-2026.html