Glossary
Enedis: the French electricity grid operator
Quick definition
Enedis (formerly ERDF) is the company that owns and operates France's medium and low-voltage electricity distribution network. It manages around 95% of the national grid below the high-voltage level: the lines, transformers, and meters that connect homes and businesses to the supply. Enedis is not an electricity supplier. It does not sell you electricity. That is EDF, Totalenergies, or whichever supplier you have contracted with. The distinction matters for solar installations, new connections, and any work that touches the grid itself. You can find current connection procedures and forms at enedis.fr.
What is the difference between Enedis and EDF?
This is the most common source of confusion for homeowners dealing with energy work for the first time. The two are separate entities with separate roles:
- Enedis: the network operator. Responsible for the physical infrastructure that carries electricity from the high-voltage transmission grid to your meter. Handles new connections, meter installation and reading, fault repairs, and grid injection approvals for solar.
- EDF (or another supplier): the commercial supplier. Sells electricity to the end consumer, handles billing, and manages supply contracts. EDF is the default historical supplier; you can switch to another supplier without changing the network.
When your installer says the solar connection needs Enedis approval, they mean the grid operator's sign-off on injecting power back into the network. When your bill comes from EDF, that is your commercial supply relationship. The two are independent.
When do you deal with Enedis for home energy work?
Most homeowners never contact Enedis directly. An installer handles the submission. But Enedis is involved behind the scenes in several common situations:
- New electrical connections: connecting a new build or newly separated property to the grid requires a Enedis raccordement application. The process is managed by a qualified electrician.
- Solar PV installation: injecting surplus electricity into the grid requires Enedis approval. The installer submits a connection request; Enedis issues a Proposition Technique et Financiere (PTF) setting out connection costs and conditions.
- EV charging point activation: once an IRVE installer completes a wallbox installation and the CONSUEL attestation is issued, the attestation is submitted to Enedis to activate the charging circuit on the meter.
- Meter upgrades: increasing the supply capacity (going from 6kVA to 9kVA, for example) requires a Enedis tariff change, submitted through your supplier.
- Linky meter: the national roll-out of communicating smart meters (compteurs Linky) is an Enedis programme. Linky is now standard across the country and provides the interval data that solar self-consumption and time-of-use tariffs rely on.
How does Enedis connect a solar installation to the grid?
The solar grid connection process has several stages, all handled by your installer:
- The installer submits a Demande de Raccordement (DR) through the Enedis online portal, including technical specifications for the inverter and the planned export capacity.
- Enedis reviews the request and issues a Proposition Technique et Financiere (PTF). This document confirms whether the local network can accept the connection and sets out any required network reinforcement work and its cost.
- Once the PTF is accepted and any connection costs paid, Enedis sets a date for the physical connection to the grid.
- After the panels are installed, the installer submits the Attestation de Conformite (from CONSUEL) and a Declaration Attestant l'Achevement et la Conformite des Travaux (DAACT) to confirm the work is complete.
- Enedis activates the injection. The supplier then sets up the surplus buyback contract if you are selling excess production.
For small residential installations under 3 kVA of injected power, a simplified procedure (S21 protocol) applies. Most domestic solar systems qualify for this faster route.
What is the CACSI?
The CACSI (Convention d'Autoconsommation Sans Injection) is a simplified Enedis declaration for solar installations that consume all of their production on-site and inject nothing into the grid. Rather than a full raccordement application, you sign a convention and Enedis typically responds within 15 days. Most plug-in solar kits and small self-consumption systems without export fall under this route. If your system is designed to sell surplus electricity to the grid, the CACSI does not apply and a standard Demande de Raccordement is needed instead.
Separately, you will sometimes see a reference to the "arrêté S21" or "tarif S21." This is not a connection procedure: it is the ministerial order that sets the feed-in tariff rates at which EDF OA buys surplus solar electricity from small producers. The tariff is updated quarterly. Your installer will tell you which rate applies at the time your connection is approved.
Does Enedis involvement affect installation timelines?
Yes, and it is one of the more common reasons solar projects take longer than expected. Enedis response times for PTF applications vary by region and workload. In the Alpes-Maritimes, a full PTF review can take several weeks; CACSI declarations are faster but still require processing time before the system can be commissioned. Your installer should factor this into the project timeline from the start. The panels can often be physically installed while the Enedis paperwork runs in parallel, but the system cannot export to the grid until the connection is formally activated.