EDF OA: the solar surplus contract | Riviera Home Experts

What does EDF OA mean?

EDF OA stands for EDF Obligation d'Achat, the purchase obligation. It's the branch of EDF that French law requires to buy electricity from small renewable producers. In practice it's the contract that pays you for solar electricity you send to the grid and don't use yourself.

How much does EDF OA pay for surplus solar electricity?

1.1 c EUR/kWh before tax, fixed for 20 years and rising slightly each year. It applies to grid-connection requests filed since 5 June 2026. Before that the rate was about 4 cents.

At that price the surplus earns very little. A kWh you use in the house saves you the full price on your bill, many times what EDF OA pays for one you export. The money in home solar now comes from using your own power, which is the idea behind auto-consommation (self-consumption). Size the system to what the house uses in the daytime. A roof filled edge to edge mostly exports at 1.1 c EUR/kWh.

Can you still sell all your solar power to EDF OA?

Not with a home-sized system. There were two set-ups. Vente totale meant selling everything the panels produce. Autoconsommation avec vente du surplus means using what you need and selling the rest, and it's the normal home case today. Vente totale is no longer offered for small home systems, though contracts signed earlier carry on.

What happened to the prime à l'autoconsommation?

The prime à l'autoconsommation was a one-off bonus based on the size of your solar system. It was abolished in June 2026 for new requests. Owners whose contracts started earlier keep the bonus and the old rate for their full 20 years, which is why plenty of French websites still describe both as current. If a quote counts a bonus in its savings, ask the installer to remove it.

How do you get an EDF OA contract?

You choose surplus sale when your installer files the grid connection request with Enedis, the company that runs the grid. EDF OA then sends you the contract to sign. Ask the installer which option they're requesting for you. For a home system it should be surplus sale, because selling everything is closed to new home systems. The contract runs for two decades, so ask what rate it pays before the panels go up.

Can you add a battery under an EDF OA contract?

Yes, with two conditions. The battery may only charge from your panels, never from the grid, and it must be declared. On the invoice side, a battery in the same job as the panels takes the TVA (French VAT) on the whole solar invoice to 20%, so ask for them to be quoted separately. The self-consumption entry covers both points.

Why are old payback figures for solar wrong now?

Any payback sum built on the old rate of about 4 cents, or on a rate above 10 cents, is out of date. So is any sum that includes the lump-sum bonus. A house that sits empty for much of the year exports nearly everything it produces at 1.1 c EUR/kWh, so the sum looks weakest for a second home. Ask the installer for the calculation in writing, with the surplus rate, your own months of occupancy and what keeps running while you're away.

More on solar, grid connection and contracts

Official sources for the EDF OA surplus contract

Légifrance: arrêté of 1 June 2026 on small solar installations The surplus rate of 1.1 c EUR per kWh on a 20-year contract, and the end of the prime à l'autoconsommation for requests from 5 June 2026.

EDF Obligation d'Achat The EDF branch that holds the purchase contracts for small renewable producers.

Rules checked against these sources in October 2026.

EDF OA: the contract that buys your surplus solar power