French energy giants: Reduce fuel and electricity use now

PARIS (AP) — Leaders of three French energy companies have called on the French public to immediately reduce consumption of fuel, oil, electricity and gas amid shortages and soaring prices due to Russia’s supply cuts and the war in Ukraine. The leaders of TotalEnergies, EDF and Engie said in a joint statement published in the French weekly Journal du Dimanche that the conservation effort “must be immediate, collective and massive.” Russia has cut — and in some case shut off — gas supplies to several European Union countries in retaliation for EU sanctions against Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. France, like other European countries, is trying to beef up its gas reserves for winter.