France's energy bill “jumped” in 2004 by 24,1%. It now stands at 28,3 billion euros, after an increase of 5,4% in 2003 announced Tuesday, April 26, the Minister for Industry, Patrick Devedjian, at a press conference. This energy bill represents 1,8% of the gross domestic product (GDP), "which remains clearly behind the 5% known at the beginning of the 1980s", however underlined the minister. An increase in the bill which "is mainly due to that of international prices of fossil fuels, but also to a lesser extent to the increase in imports in volume".