Every week, the EDF executive committee brings together fourteen managers of the public group, including its CEO, Luc Rémont. Monday March 25, the decision-making body also included Bruno Le Maire. In almost seven years in office, the Minister of the Economy was invited there for the first time, as he announced at the beginning of the month. The opportunity to reaffirm the control of the State, which once again became the sole shareholder in June 2023, when relaunching a nuclear program. The opportunity, also, to deliver a political message to the electrician’s professional customers.
“EDF is committed to renegotiating the contracts” electricity supply contracts signed in 2022 with the companies “ when prices were at their highest, recalls Mr. Le Maire, at the end of the meeting. The latter speaks of“a vital issue” both for VSEs (companies with less than ten employees) as well as for SMEs (less than 250 employees) or for mid-sized companies (less than 5,000 employees).
The statement only confirms Luc Rémont’s announcement in February. The CEO of EDF had already promised support ” case by case ” for professional customers whose contract, signed in 2022, is still in force today or until 2025.
The initiative comes above all from the State shareholder. Because, in December 2023, questioned by the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Mr. Rémont had initially ruled out renegotiating his supply contracts.
“Price smoothing”
The price of electricity rose on average to 276 euros per megawatt hour on the wholesale market where French suppliers obtain their supplies, throughout 2022 – with summer peaks at 1,000 euros. There are several factors behind this: a corrosion problem on certain nuclear reactor pipes, a drought hitting hydraulic production, but also tensions linked to the war in Ukraine, around gas supplies. The grip began to loosen in 2023, even if the average price of that year (97 euros) still represents more than double that observed in 2019 (around 40 euros).
Contacted by The world, neither the Ministry of the Economy nor EDF specify the number of contracts which will give rise to new discussions. No more than the amount involved. According to EDF, which is still working on the terms of renegotiation, the solution could result in a “price smoothing” rather than a refund. In other words, the electrician plans to “ defer part of the applicable price for the current contract » towards later years… provided that the companies concerned renew their contracts.
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