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France risks being short of electricity for several days this winter as the country grapples with lower-than-usual nuclear plant availability, Bloomberg reports, citing the country’s grid operator.

Repairs and maintenance on almost half of Electricite de France SA’s atomic plants are turning the country -- a traditional power exporter -- into an importer this year. That’s forcing French users to pay a premium to their neighbors, where prices have skyrocketed after Russia squeezed gas deliveries to Europe.

In a bid to avoid blackouts, the French government has called for businesses, local governments and households to conserve energy. Should grid operator RTE foresee an electricity shortage, it will launch an “Ecowatt” red alert three days in advance to call for users to reduce consumption in a bid to avoid rotating power cuts.

“We remain in a situation of particular vigilance,” Reseau de Transport d’Electricite President Xavier Piechaczyk said on Radio Classique Monday. “If it’s hot, you won’t hear about red Ecowatt. If it’s very cold, you’ll hear a lot of them, and if we’re in an average, median, normal winter, it will be a few units of red Ecowatt.”

The warning, as the heating season starts, echoes similar comments made two months ago. It comes as Electricite de France SA had just 31 of its 56 atomic reactors online Monday morning. EDF aims to have about 42 units in operation in December, and 46 in January, the company said last week.