Satisfied with heating less: energy sufficiency in practice(s) in French households during the winter of 2022–3

This article examines the causal factors behind the significant drop in household energy consumption in France during the winter of 2022–3. While institutional reports attribute these savings to price signals and energy poverty, we argue they also reflect shifts in practices related to both space heating and domestic hot water use for cleanliness. In 2022, following geopolitical tensions and nuclear supply constraints, the government launched a comprehensive Plan de Sobriété énergétique, or ‘energy sufficiency plan’. The plan called for massive energy savings, while a price cap on electricity and ‘energy vouchers’ were introduced to help households with rising energy costs. French households adapted their energy use during the energy crisis, and this adaptation persisted afterwards. Therefore, we hypothesise that many households have adopted ‘heating less’ as a new norm in heating and cleaning practices, beyond a simplistic view of the effects of price signals. Drawing on a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, we examine the elements of social practices – materialities, meanings and competences – to interpret changes in these practices. The sample consists of households in south-west France who had moved in the months preceding the survey. Our quantitative results show that households did reduce space heating across all socio-economic characteristics, with neither income nor education being statistically significant. Instead, qualitative analyses show how positive meanings were attributed to moderating energy use and to contributing to the collective effort amid a crisis. Finally, we discuss the conditions that enable the adoption of sufficiency, contributing to debates on mainstreaming sufficiency principles into climate policy.