The bosses of EDF, TotalEnergies and ENGIE have come together to launch an appeal to French customers to limit their energy consumption.

In a joint statement, Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies and Catherine MacGregor, CEO of ENGIE, said: “More than ever the best energy is still the one we do not consume.

“We must collectively, act on energy demand by reducing our consumption to give us room for manoeuvre.

“We will need it to manage future consumption peaks and to cushion technical hazards or geopolitical shocks that we may have to face. Acting this summer will allow us to be better prepared to tackle next winter and in particular to preserve our gas reserves.”

The three energy companies have also stressed that the surge in energy prices threatens countries’ social and political cohesion.

They added: “We, therefore, call for collective and individual awareness and action so that each of us – each consumer, each company – changes our behaviour and immediately limits our energy, electricity, gas and petroleum product consumption.”