The note is salty. By allocating additional volumes of cheap nuclear electricity to EDF’s competitors in an attempt to limit the rise in consumer bills, the French state has drawn the wrath of the incumbent supplier.
EDF on Tuesday claimed compensation of 8.34 billion euros and “filed a legal action with the Council of State, and a claim for compensation” with the State, its main shareholder, the group said in a press release.
What EDF is pointing to is the decision taken, to contain the increase in regulated electricity tariffs to 4% in 2022 as promised, to force it to increase by 20% the annual quota of electricity sold at reduced to its competitors, to 120 TWh (against 100 TWh previously).
This sale is made within the framework of the mechanism called “Regulated access to historical nuclear electricity”, regularly denounced by EDF. The group is thus forced to sell its production at a knockdown price, at a time when electricity is reaching peaks on the wholesale markets.
Following this decision, EDF had warned of a plunge in its financial result in 2022, attributing it in particular to the raising of the Arenh ceiling.
Estate of Jean-Bernard Levy
“The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF had indicated during his annual general meeting that he had sent the State a prior administrative appeal to request the withdrawal of the decree and orders of March 2022 relating to this allocation” of additional nuclear volumes , recalls the group.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, whose State now wants to accelerate the succession within the framework of the planned renationalization of EDF, had indeed announced an appeal in May. “Both the price and the conditions of these allocations penalize us considerably,” he argued.