Also interest rates on government regulated savings accounts set to fall<\/p>\n
\n Changes affect several areas
\n NeydtStock \/ Monkey Business Images \/ SergeyKlopotov \/ HJBC \/ Shutterstock\n <\/p>\n
Several changes come into play for households in France this August. These range from energy bill increases to back-to-school bursaries<\/p>\n
Millions of households will also receive an income tax refund, or have to make an additional tax payment<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Below, The Connexion provides an overview of key changes in August. <\/p>\n Drop in savings account interest rates\u00a0<\/p>\n The interest rate on tax-free and government regulated Livret A savings accounts will drop to 1.7% on August 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is the second fall this year, after an initial 3% to 2.4% drop in February. The change is due to low interest rates in previous months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Equally, the interest rate of the livret d’\u00e9pargne populaire (LEP) savings account, which are available to modest income households, will drop from 3.5% to 2.7%.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more: Interest rate of French Livret A savings account to fall in August<\/a><\/p>\n Energy taxes go up\u2026<\/p>\n The VAT rate on energy contracts increases from 5.5% to 20% on August 1, affecting both gas and electricity bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n The change is required due to EU laws that state the same VAT rate must be applied across the entire energy sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n To lessen the impact, consumption taxes on energy usage will decrease.\u00a0<\/p>\n This includes the excise tax (taxe de l\u2019accise) for both gas and electricity subscriptions, which will be reduced gradually between August 1 and December 31.<\/p>\n Additionally, the tax for using the public electricity grid (the TURPE tax) will also drop from 7.7% to 2.5%, however this will only impact households that power their homes with electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Notably, reducing energy usage will have less of an impact on the outcome of your bill, as the VAT increase is more impactful as a share of the final bill cost than these variable rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026 but gas consumption prices fall<\/p>\n Increased VAT means that gas bills will rise by roughly \u20ac40 annually according to the French Energy Commission (CRE).\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the actual cost of gas will drop slightly in August, reducing a little the impact of the VAT change.\u00a0<\/p>\n The price of gas per kW\/h for cooking and hot water will drop from \u20ac0.13970 to \u20ac0.13920, and for heating down to \u20ac0.10801 from \u20ac0.10852.\u00a0<\/p>\n Extra fees for those not using Linky meters\u00a0<\/p>\n Households that have still not installed a Linky smartmeter to monitor electricity usage will face an additional \u20ac6.48 charge, excluding VAT, every two months on their bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n An additional \u20ac4.14 charge will be added if no meter readings have been handed over to the grid operator Enedis in at least 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fees will be waived for properties where Enedis confirms it is impossible for the meters to be installed.<\/p>\n Read more: Extra fees start soon for French homes without Linky smart electricity meter<\/a><\/p>\n Back-to-school annual grant to be paid on August 19<\/p>\n Around three million households will receive a back-to-school bursary payment from the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n The payment will arrive on August 19 (August 5 in some overseas departments) for modest income households with a revenu fiscal de r\u00e9f\u00e9rence (RFR)<\/a> of less than \u20ac28,444.\u00a0<\/p>\n The payments depend on the number of children in the home and their age, but can range from \u20ac423.48 to \u20ac462.33 per child.\u00a0<\/p>\n In most cases, the payments are made automatically.\u00a0<\/p>\n