Gas infrastructure to 2050: the CRE assesses costs and the impact on grid tariffs
Published on 1 July 2026, this foresight report examines the sizing of the gas grid against a backdrop of structurally falling demand.
On 1 July 2026, the French Energy Regulatory Commission published its report on the future of gas infrastructure to 2050, assessing the costs of the infrastructure required and their impact on grid tariffs.
The issue is structural. Decarbonising the French economy implies a marked reduction in fossil gas consumption, while the networks that carry it are long-lived assets, depreciated over several decades.
This tension raises a direct tariff question: if the volumes carried decline while the fixed costs of the network remain largely stable, the unit cost borne by remaining customers mechanically increases.
The report examines scenarios for sizing the network, the role of renewable gases — biomethane first and foremost — and the conditions under which certain portions of infrastructure could be adapted, repurposed or closed.
For industrial firms still using gas in their thermal processes, these trajectories weigh on the trade-off between continuing with decarbonised gas and directly electrifying processes.