Repair bonus: the government is waving the carrot and the stick

In the event of a breakdown, customers still too often have the reflex of buying a new product rather than having the old one repaired. With regard to electrical and electronic equipment, the repair rate did not exceed 10% in 2021, according to Ademe. This is often the cause: the cost of the repair, deemed too high by customers to make it worthwhile. To encourage the French to throw away less, the anti-waste law for a circular economy (Agec) has therefore set out to lower this cost. It has introduced a "repair bonus" in effect since December 15, which should financially encourage customers to take the plunge.

In concrete terms, a user can have his washing machine, kettle or camera repaired by a repairer with the Quali Répar label, who will offer him a state-funded discount on the amount of the repair. A fund of 410 million euros, which must finance the repair bonus until 2027, has been created for this purpose. And 62 million euros are budgeted for 2023.

Alas, a few months after the launch of the bonus, the Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, already considers its results disappointing. Only 20,000 repairs have been carried out, and the financial envelope allocated to the bonus is struggling to be redistributed. ““These 62 million euros are not intended to sleep in a bank account,” said Bérangère Couillard on Thursday, according to AFP.

Since the planned bonus is not enough to convince the French, the Secretary of State will beef up her system. The bonus will be doubled. While it fluctuated between 10 and 45 euros depending on the product, it will be between 20 and 90 euros from July 1. Second pitfall identified by the government: the lack of support for repairs in high demand by customers, such as replacing the screen of a smartphone. “The eco-organizations refused to take charge of them until now, explains the Secretary of State, according to the AEF agency. This will change as of July 1. »

Finally, the number of repairers with the Quali Répar label must increase to facilitate access. 1,200 stores or repairers now have the label (the Boulanger and Leclerc stores, for example), for a target of 4,000 by the end of the year. Bérangère Couillard wants to facilitate access to the label for independent repairers, by lowering the cost. But above all she wants to bring in big players who are not yet labeled in the system. If they do not play the game, " I will oblige them by decree this summer", threatens the Secretary of State.

And to quote Fnac, Darty, Apple or Carrefour. He believes he was quoted in error. He recalls that he does not have an in-house repair service. However, this is not the case with Fnac Darty, which even offers its customers subscription packages giving access to unlimited repair of their products. But this is precisely where the shoe pinches: the bonus does not currently apply to subscription formulas, penalizing an offer on which the distributor is betting a lot, and customers very eager for repairs. The group does not despair of changing the government's mind.