Who Gets France's Energy Voucher in 2026?

Quick summary:

1. The 2026 energy voucher (chèque énergie) benefits around 5.8 million households in France, granted automatically with no application.
2. It is reserved for households whose reference tax income per consumption unit does not exceed 11,000 euros a year.
3. Its amount ranges from 48 to 277 euros, averaging around 150 euros in 2026.
4. Since 2024, it no longer funds energy renovation work, only energy bills.

What is France’s energy voucher

The chèque énergie (energy voucher) is a French state financial aid designed to ease the energy bills of low income households. Unlike many other aid schemes, it is granted automatically, with no application from the household: the tax administration calculates eligibility every year from the latest income tax return and the number of people in the household.

It is the only national aid scheme for paying energy bills that works entirely automatically, alongside occasional local aids granted by some départements, municipalities or pension funds under their own criteria.

This scheme has replaced, since 2018, the former social energy rates (tarif de première nécessité for electricity, tarif spécial de solidarité for gas), first tested in a few départements before being rolled out nationwide. It has the advantage of being usable regardless of the home’s heating energy, electricity, gas, heating oil or firewood, which the former social rates did not allow since they were limited to electricity and mains gas.

The scheme is expected to be renewed under the same principles in 2027, although the exact budget allocated each year depends on the vote of the finance law.

An amount based on consumption units

Eligibility for the energy voucher is based on the reference tax income (RFR) divided by the number of consumption units (UC) in the household. This consumption unit method, also used by Insee to calculate the poverty threshold, weighs income according to the real size of the household rather than counting income per head.

Why this scheme exists

According to the Observatoire national de la précarité énergétique (ONPE, France’s national fuel poverty observatory), 3.1 million households, or around 10% of French households, spent more than 8% of their income on energy bills for their home in 2023, the threshold that defines fuel poverty.

“Around 10% of households were in fuel poverty in 2023, very low income households that spent more than 8% of their income paying the energy bills for their home.” — Observatoire national de la précarité énergétique, 2023

This situation has worsened since then: energy prices rose 16.7% year on year in August 2026, a much faster pace than the general inflation rate measured over the same period. The energy voucher, alongside regulated tariffs, is one of the main public levers used to cushion this rise for the most exposed households.

Who is eligible for the energy voucher

A household is eligible for the energy voucher when its reference tax income per consumption unit does not exceed 11,000 euros a year, a threshold unchanged since the scheme was created. The number of consumption units is calculated as follows:

• The first person in the household counts as 1 UC
• The second person counts as 0.5 UC
• Each additional person counts as 0.3 UC

Examples by household type

For a single person, the annual RFR threshold is directly 11,000 euros. For a couple, the number of UC rises to 1.5, which brings the RFR threshold to 16,500 euros. A couple with one child totals 1.8 UC, for a threshold of 19,800 euros, and a couple with two children reaches 2.1 UC for a threshold of 23,100 euros.

No application is required to check eligibility: the energy voucher is sent automatically to the eligible household, at the address declared to the tax authorities, based on the latest available income tax return.

How much is the energy voucher worth

The energy voucher ranges from 48 to 277 euros depending on resources and household composition, averaging around 150 euros in 2026. The lower the RFR per UC and the larger the household, the higher the amount granted.

Income thresholds by household composition

For the 2026 campaign, vouchers started being sent on April 1st, with around 3.8 million households covered by the first waves, followed by around 700,000 additional households in May.

How to use the energy voucher

The energy voucher can only fund expenses linked to the home’s energy use. It can pay electricity, natural gas or propane, heating oil and firewood bills. Tenants in social housing can also use it to pay collective heating charges, as can residents of sheltered housing benefiting from housing assistance.

The voucher is only accepted by suppliers who have chosen to integrate it into their payment methods. Most electricity and gas suppliers on the French market accept it, but it is advisable to check with the relevant supplier before sending the voucher by post, to avoid unnecessary processing delays.

A narrower scope since 2024

According to data relayed by the Agence de services et de paiement, the public body managing the scheme on behalf of the state, the energy voucher could long be used to partly fund energy renovation work in the home. This is no longer the case since 2024: the energy voucher now covers only energy bills and heating charges, and does not replace dedicated renovation aids such as MaPrimeRénov.

For a household looking to durably reduce its bill rather than offset its rise every year, attic insulation remains one of the most cost effective renovation items, even though it relies on separate funding from the energy voucher.

How to receive and use the energy voucher

Steps to benefit from it

1. Check eligibility on the chequeenergie.gouv.fr website, which lets households simulate their entitlement even before receiving the letter
2. Receive the voucher by post at the address declared to the tax authorities, with no prior steps required
3. Use the voucher online on chequeenergie.gouv.fr by linking it to an energy contract, or by sending it directly to the energy supplier or the landlord for collective heating charges

Once used, the voucher is deducted directly from the household’s energy bill. For a household that also wants to better understand its spending, knowing how to read an electricity bill helps identify the most costly consumption items before seeking further help.

Extra protection against unpaid bills

Energy voucher recipients get extra protection during the winter truce (trêve hivernale), from November 1st to March 31st. While the Brottes law of April 15, 2013 already bans any electricity or gas cutoff for unpaid bills during this period for all primary residences, energy voucher recipients are also protected against power reduction: their supply stays at full capacity, whereas a non recipient household can have its power capped at 1 kVA by the network operator after accumulating unpaid bills. This protection requires sending the eligibility certificate received with the voucher to the supplier. Recipients also benefit from an 80% discount on intervention fees charged for unpaid bills.

Validity period and deadline

The 2026 energy voucher can be used until March 31, 2027. After this roughly one year period following its issue, it can no longer be used and its amount is lost, with the exact deadline printed directly on the voucher received by post. It is therefore advisable to use it quickly after receipt, either by linking it online to an energy contract for automatic deduction on upcoming bills, or by sending it directly to the relevant supplier or landlord.

An eligible household that has not received its voucher despite meeting the conditions can use the claims desk on the official website, open from April 1st to December 31, 2026 for the current campaign. Alongside financial aid, adopting a few simple habits to reduce an electricity bill helps limit long term reliance on this type of support.