The electrical-engineering market in France: €29 billion, and an electric decade ahead
Electrical engineering is one of the few construction trades to have come out of the crisis years stronger. For this first article of the Synevolt newsletter, we've taken the sector's figures (Xerfi study, Insee and France Travail data) to answer a simple question: where is the French electrical-engineering market heading, and what does that change for the trade's SME owners?
The essentials in five figures
A €29 billion market, activity at an all-time high
The French electrical-engineering market was worth close to €29 billion in 2023. And the momentum didn't stop there: after three exceptional years (+14.6% in 2021, +7.7% in 2022, +10.7% in 2023), electricians' activity grew again by +4.1% in 2024, driven by the renovation and code-compliance upgrades of electrical installations in an ageing building stock, and by recurring revenue (repairs, maintenance) that is fairly insensitive to the economic cycle.
2025 was expected to mark a pause: Xerfi anticipated a slight dip (−1.0% in value) while new construction picks back up. But the key point lies elsewhere: according to the same study, the sector's activity remains around 50% above its pre-crisis level. A rise in value, which includes higher prices and wages, but which stays clearly positive in volume. And its backbone is solid: maintenance and renovation account for nearly two-thirds of electricians' revenue, a far more stable base than new build.
Three structural drivers for the next ten years
The electrification of everyday life
France is targeting 400,000 public charging points by 2030. The installation and maintenance of charging stations (EV charging) is ramping up, and electricians play the central role — provided they build the specific skills and certifications.
Solar
237,000 self-consumption photovoltaic installations were commissioned in 2024 (+18% after +120% in 2023), for a base that already exceeded 670,000 installations at the end of 2024. And regulation is creating a massive opportunity: since 2025, non-residential buildings over 500 m² undergoing construction or major renovation must fit solar panels or green roofing, and large car parks will have to install photovoltaic canopies by 2028.
Datacenters
France had 301 colocation datacenters at the start of 2025, up from 176 in 2018 — a wave amplified by AI. Cabling these sites, both high and low voltage, falls to electrical-engineering companies.
On top of this comes a lastingly favourable regulatory framework: the timetable banning the rental of energy-inefficient homes (G ratings from 2025, F in 2028, E in 2034), the RE2020 standard, and mandatory electrical inspections for both sales and rentals. All obligations that turn the existing building stock into order books.
A sector of sole traders and SMEs… where size drives performance
French electrical engineering means more than 77,000 companies (2023), two-thirds of which have no employees and 95% fewer than ten. Across the sector, barely 0.5% of companies exceed 50 employees; yet among the companies tracked by Xerfi, they concentrate more than 80% of revenue. In between sit a little over 3,000 SMEs of 10 to 49 employees: structured enough to bear the constraints of a real company (management, safety, tenders), rarely large enough to absorb them. It's in this bracket that the question of size is felt most sharply. In total, the sector employs more than 207,000 people, nearly a quarter of them in the Paris region.
This fragmentation explains the structure of margins. Within the sector's top 25, the specialists in high-value segments (nuclear, solar, fire safety) sit at the top of the ranking, with gross operating margins of 8 to 13.5% of revenue; most large generalist installers plateau between 4 and 6%, several below. The sector average, meanwhile, comes out at 3.5%. Moving upmarket pays, but it demands investment (skills, certifications, tools) often out of reach for a company on its own.
Consolidation is accelerating, and so is transmission
The movement is under way at every level. The majors are multiplying acquisitions: SPIE completed nine deals in 2024, representing more than €800 million in combined revenue; Vinci Énergies, Eiffage and others are consolidating both mid-caps and specialised small firms. Independent groups are following: the Fauché Group, majority-owned by its employees, doubled in size in five years (€224 million in revenue in 2019, €447 million in 2024) through acquisitions. Even sole traders are organising: purchasing and services cooperatives such as VST (850 members) are structuring the bottom of the market.
At the same time, the transmission market is coming alive: 310 business transfers were published in the sector in 2024, up a quarter year on year. And that's only part of the real transactions, as many SME sales happen without publicity. Given the age pyramid of construction-SME owners, this movement is very likely to intensify. For an owner preparing what comes next, the balance of power is in their favour: never have potential buyers (majors, independent groups, networks) been so numerous or so varied.
Recruiting electricians: the crux of it all
One figure sums up the sector's main brake: in 2025, 71% of electrician recruitment projects were rated hard to fill by employers. And 70% of these hires are carried by companies with fewer than ten employees, which have neither the employer brand, nor the training paths, nor the career prospects of a group. Some players, such as Atout Groupe, are investing close to €2 million in their own in-house training centre. Here too, size becomes a competitive advantage — both to attract and to retain.
What it changes for an electrical-engineering SME
Let's sum up. A market set for a strong decade, driven by electrification, solar and datacenters. Margins that reward specialisation and investment. Recruitment that favours those who can offer prospects. And a consolidation that is reshuffling the deck at every level.
Faced with this reshaping, the owner of a profitable, well-run SME has several options: sell to a major; grow alone through acquisitions; join a cooperative, which pools purchasing and a few services, but not the rest. Another path is emerging: a group of entrepreneurs that pools what weighs (purchasing, recruitment, tools, support functions) and where each owner stays in control of their company. That's the conviction behind the Synevolt project: in electrical engineering, size should benefit everyone, without costing independence.
Do you run an SME in the sector, and does this reading of the market chime with your own thinking? Find out how to join the Synevolt group: the conversation is confidential and without commitment.
Sources: Xerfi, "Electrical engineering — outlook and forecasts 2025" (June 2025 edition, forecasts finalised on 5 June 2025); Insee; France Travail; URSSAF; CERC. The reference years for the figures are specified in the text.