France — physical cross-border flows, 2026

Every month of the year, every border, in energy and in money. Flows are measured; each megawatt-hour is valued at France's own day-ahead price for the quarter-hour it actually crossed in.

Month by month

All borders together, with consumption for scale.

Month Consumption, MWh Physical exports Physical imports Zone price, €/MWh Difference € Import ÷ consumption
MWh€/MWh€ MWh€/MWh€
January 49,300,176 11,663,961 100.44 1,171,528,721 1,683,509 97.84 164,716,870 100.65 1,006,811,851 3.4%
February 38,955,856 13,485,629 44.18 595,824,574 912,097 48.27 44,023,917 46.02 551,800,657 2.3%
March 38,907,139 14,820,139 65.02 963,635,617 987,880 67.57 66,749,503 63.85 896,886,114 2.5%
April 32,490,807 13,425,855 44.95 603,495,334 633,273 48.17 30,506,883 39.80 572,988,452 1.9%
May 31,312,178 13,837,559 57.86 800,636,136 596,624 40.11 23,931,484 52.20 776,704,653 1.9%
June 32,133,997 12,509,252 64.16 802,602,042 612,827 99.40 60,915,319 66.07 741,686,723 1.9%
July 33,828,311 12,614,703 97.49 1,229,768,201 363,389 76.64 27,851,321 95.23 1,201,916,881 1.1%
August 31,372,223 10,274,412 121.44 1,247,705,180 803,568 109.81 88,242,683 122.80 1,159,462,497 2.6%
September34.6% of hours 10,486,319 3,337,744 138.50 462,272,870 371,335 142.97 53,090,640 141.30 409,182,230 3.5%
Total 298,787,005 105,969,255 74.34 7,877,468,676 6,964,502 80.41 560,028,619 76.46 7,317,440,058 2.3%

Consumption is measured separately, as the hourly average power summed over the month — not by adding up readings, since sources publish at different rates. The last column puts imports next to it for scale; it is not a dependency figure, because part of what enters passes straight through to another neighbour.

Where the difference comes from

7,317,440,058 € for 99,004,753 MWh that stayed in the country works out at 73.91 € per megawatt-hour, in a month that averaged 76.46.

  • Energy that stayed, at the month's average price −7,570,079,600 103.5%
  • What came in arrived above that average 27,510,406 -0.4%
  • What went out left below it 225,129,137 -3.1%

The first line is energy the country needed and got. The other two — 252,639,542 € together — come not from how much moved but from when: cheap hours to sell in, expensive hours to buy in. That is the price of a timing mismatch, not a loss.

Official validation

The measured physical flow, checked against ANRE's published commercial trade.

Month Physical net, MWh Commercial net, MWh Difference, MWh Status
January ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
February ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
March ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
April ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
May ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
June ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
July ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
August ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA
September ——— AWAITING OFFICIAL ANRE DATA

Gross volumes differ by design: the official indicators include transits, and a transit is counted once entering and once leaving, while a physical border sees it only once. Net figures converge, because transits cancel out — which is why the comparison is made on the net.

The percentage relates the difference to the month's commercial net. In a month with a small net, the same difference in MWh yields a larger percentage — which is why the difference is always shown in MWh as well.

ANRE publishes these exchanges as a physical balance in GWh. It publishes no import or export value and no average price per direction, so no money comparison is possible.

Physical cross-border flows and commercial electricity trades measure different phenomena. ANRE data is shown as an independent official benchmark and should not be interpreted as an exact reconciliation.

Border by border

Italy

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 3,956,415 101.89 403,099,578 52,863 151.61 8,014,340 395,085,239
February 4,784,269 47.63 227,888,511 0 — 0 227,888,511
March 5,139,958 67.19 345,373,649 0 — 0 345,373,649
April 4,591,749 49.47 227,144,811 11,501 -50.29 −578,444 227,723,255
May 4,383,476 64.37 282,161,356 18,540 -31.34 −581,017 282,742,373
June 4,303,248 67.20 289,190,765 1,767 122.26 216,024 288,974,741
July 4,490,026 98.61 442,745,290 0 — 0 442,745,290
August 3,673,021 124.08 455,760,412 66 23.16 1,535 455,758,877
September 1,520,264 139.59 212,214,735 0 — 0 212,214,735
Total 36,842,426 78.32 2,885,579,108 84,737 83.46 7,072,438 2,878,506,670

Germany

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 3,338,014 102.29 341,459,146 147,756 60.44 8,929,997 332,529,149
February 3,290,235 45.24 148,858,343 496 102.04 50,594 148,807,749
March 3,583,514 66.24 237,385,185 21,246 0.22 4,649 237,380,536
April 2,991,492 50.10 149,884,089 94,412 -38.18 −3,604,983 153,489,072
May 2,834,866 62.93 178,384,005 121,156 -13.98 −1,694,182 180,078,187
June 3,224,634 71.58 230,830,840 129,489 37.76 4,889,622 225,941,219
July 2,689,135 111.67 300,285,987 120,454 22.89 2,756,932 297,529,055
August 1,981,874 133.91 265,395,255 371,161 81.31 30,180,702 235,214,553
September 530,501 164.89 87,473,333 101,649 100.78 10,244,627 77,228,705
Total 24,464,263 79.30 1,939,956,184 1,107,818 46.72 51,757,958 1,888,198,225

United Kingdom

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 1,582,518 96.10 152,074,697 98,004 102.84 10,078,818 141,995,879
February 2,176,009 42.38 92,227,467 0 — 0 92,227,467
March 2,378,083 62.32 148,202,289 5,073 103.22 523,660 147,678,629
April 1,980,263 37.96 75,176,129 26,461 48.33 1,278,874 73,897,255
May 2,428,167 51.70 125,542,996 0 — 0 125,542,996
June 1,870,748 62.70 117,291,314 8,583 168.07 1,442,530 115,848,784
July 2,288,627 89.32 204,429,166 3,572 75.09 268,222 204,160,943
August 1,754,536 101.77 178,555,008 50,196 159.94 8,028,325 170,526,683
September 394,820 122.82 48,492,682 99,196 151.38 15,016,677 33,476,004
Total 16,853,771 67.76 1,141,991,748 291,085 125.86 36,637,107 1,105,354,641

Belgium

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 536,592 102.83 55,177,250 337,145 84.88 28,617,365 26,559,885
February 1,109,536 36.71 40,729,521 8,711 99.95 870,671 39,858,849
March 1,557,384 72.06 112,227,663 26,767 11.14 298,304 111,929,358
April 1,780,077 46.82 83,350,997 47,928 -9.19 −440,405 83,791,401
May 2,245,108 54.78 122,988,361 15,935 -2.51 −40,014 123,028,375
June 1,578,647 63.38 100,052,464 6,726 11.86 79,757 99,972,707
July 1,560,271 94.39 147,268,385 33,643 48.64 1,636,538 145,631,847
August 1,318,499 127.26 167,789,227 17,168 41.13 706,105 167,083,122
September 298,483 134.08 40,021,961 25,687 141.21 3,627,090 36,394,871
Total 11,984,596 72.56 869,605,829 519,708 68.03 35,355,412 834,250,416

Switzerland

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 1,773,461 97.72 173,295,440 46,227 149.30 6,901,529 166,393,910
February 1,858,333 42.62 79,200,220 743 106.80 79,387 79,120,833
March 1,840,969 56.43 103,893,411 1,606 151.65 243,500 103,649,911
April 1,255,946 42.49 53,368,156 41,738 -60.00 −2,504,167 55,872,323
May 1,262,729 52.10 65,790,179 23,331 -25.53 −595,628 66,385,807
June 855,304 42.59 36,425,998 52,721 161.08 8,492,368 27,933,630
July 872,534 84.53 73,756,731 36,915 109.51 4,042,611 69,714,120
August 858,414 109.23 93,767,083 112,880 161.69 18,251,071 75,516,012
September 221,469 118.32 26,204,243 39,509 178.92 7,068,784 19,135,459
Total 10,799,158 65.35 705,701,460 355,669 118.03 41,979,456 663,722,005

Spain

Month by month, France's side of this border.

Month Physical exports MWh €/MWh € Physical imports MWh €/MWh € Difference €
January 476,961 97.33 46,422,610 1,001,514 102.02 102,174,820 −55,752,211
February 267,248 25.90 6,920,512 902,147 47.69 43,023,264 −36,102,752
March 320,230 51.69 16,553,420 933,188 70.38 65,679,390 −49,125,970
April 826,329 17.63 14,571,152 411,234 88.41 36,356,006 −21,784,854
May 683,213 37.72 25,769,239 417,662 64.27 26,842,326 −1,073,086
June 676,672 42.58 28,810,660 413,542 110.74 45,795,018 −16,984,358
July 714,111 85.82 61,282,643 168,805 113.43 19,147,017 42,135,625
August 688,068 125.62 86,438,195 252,098 123.27 31,074,945 55,363,250
September 372,208 128.60 47,865,916 105,295 162.72 17,133,461 30,732,456
Total 5,025,040 66.59 334,634,348 4,605,485 84.08 387,226,248 −52,591,900

Method

Not an invoice. Cross-border electricity is not sold country to country: the markets are coupled and the physical flow is the outcome of a shared auction. These figures value the measured flow at this zone's own day-ahead price, so both directions can be compared on the same scale.

Flows are measured, quarter-hour by quarter-hour; hourly borders are spread across the four quarters they cover, so every megawatt-hour meets the price that was actually in force. Energy entering the country is not the same as energy consumed here — some of it passes through.

A country between two others carries energy that is neither produced nor consumed there. Energy entering is not energy used.