The group, forced to sell its production at a knockdown price to contain the rise in prices, announced that it had “filed a legal appeal today with the Council of State”.
A state-controlled group attacking the state is unprecedented. EDF said on Tuesday that it was claiming 8.34 billion euros in compensation as part of a legal action filed with the Council of State. The electrician, in which the state is a nearly 84% shareholder and plans to buy the remaining 16% in the coming months, wants to be reimbursed for the bill of more than 8 billion euros imposed on it in the framework of the “tariff shield”. A measure put in place in January 2022 by the Castex government to limit the increase in the regulated sales tariff (TRV) of electricity to + 4% in February.
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In May, EDF had launched an informal appeal to ask the State to reverse this measure. The state had two months to respond, until August 11. The absence of a response signifies a rejection of the request. EDF did not wait for the end of this period to take action before the administrative courts. He does not claim the annulment of the measure. This would have amounted to asking for the elimination of the quasi-freeze on the price of electricity and would have risked causing a retroactive surge in the bill for households and businesses.
A “claim for compensation”
In fact, EDF filed a “compensation claim“, that is to say a reimbursement of the costs generated by the government decision. This, strongly pushed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), consisted in forcing EDF to sell more electricity of nuclear origin at 42 euros (more than five times less than the market price at time) to its competitors, so that they pass on this reduction in their cost of supply to their customers. This caused a shortfall for the electrician of more than 8 billion.
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This appeal is not a rebellion. EDF managers were obliged to use all legal means to challenge this measure imposed by the state shareholder. Their fiduciary responsibility was at stake. In the event of inaction, they risked suffering a complaint from the employee and minority shareholders of the group, which had not yet been renationalized.
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