Published on 25/09/2026 – 15:03 GMT+2 France’s rural communities are feeling the full force of the global energy crisis sparked by the war in Iran. Almost 21 million people — nearly a third of the French population — live in the countryside, which covers around 90% of the country’s landmass. In Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, a town of around 6,000 people in the northern Oise department, rising energy prices are being felt even in the local bakery. Kevin Luce bakes his bread in two heating oil-fired ovens — a fuel that was once cost-effective but has become increasingly expensive. “At the outset it…