CRE orders RTE to align Tempo red-day selection with capacity mechanism's Peak Period algorithm

CRE deliberation n°2026-189 (21 Oct 2026) decides that RTE will replace the existing Tempo red-day drawing algorithm (in place since 2014) with the Peak Period (PP) algorithm used in the capacity mechanism, will exclude 24 and 31 December from red-day and PP-day draws, and will shift the notice period for announcing the Tempo red-day colour from J-1 10:30 to no later than one hour after the PP draw (targeting J-2 before 12:00), with the algorithm and December-exclusion changes effective 1 November 2026 and the new notice-period rule effective 1 November 2027.

The Tempo signal underpins roughly 900,000 TRVE residential/non-residential retail offers and is also used in some alternative-supplier effacement offers; converging it with the capacity mechanism's PP methodology changes price-signal reliability, consumer predictability and the attractiveness of demand-response/effacement offers tied to one of France's main household flexibility price signals.

This is a concrete, codified redesign of a long-standing retail demand-response tariff signal rather than a general policy statement. The CRE documents a specific technical substitution (PP algorithm replacing the bespoke 2014 Tempo algorithm), backed by RTE's comparative efficiency/reliability analysis (94% vs 95% efficiency, but far fewer 'apurement' days: 3 vs 13), two explicit carve-outs (24/31 December) and a phased notice-period change with an explicit one-year implementation delay for IT/process adaptation. The structural change responds directly to an operational failure event (13 consecutive red days drawn in March 2025-2026) and formalizes convergence between the capacity mechanism's PP signal and the retail Tempo signal, which previously used separate methodologies despite identical underlying residual-consumption logic. This creates a durable linkage between wholesale/capacity-adequacy signalling and retail flexibility tariff design in France.

French Energy Code articles L.134-1 (1° and 3°) and L.341-4; CRE deliberation n°2026-189 of 21 October 2026, complementing CRE deliberations of 30 October 2014 and 16 July 2015; capacity mechanism rules under the arrêté of 18 March 2026

Entry into force of PP algorithm for Tempo red days and exclusion of 24/31 December · 1 Nov 2026

Primary sources