Almost a quarter after his appointment to the Council of Ministers, Luc Rémont has not cut it. At the desk, the new boss of EDF presented, Friday, February 17, the worst annual results in the history of the electrician. Contrary to the 5.1 billion euros in profits for 2021, the group deplores an abysmal net loss of 17.9 billion euros in 2022. At the same level as the industrial disasters of France Telecom or Vivendi, at the beginning of the years 2000. All this despite sales driven up by the energy price crisis: 143.5 billion euros (+70% from one year to the next). All accompanied by a debt, also unprecedented, of 64.5 billion euros.
Two factors have “heavily penalized” company,” says Mr. Rémont. First, the considerable drop in the availability of its nuclear fleet and, consequently, that of its production in France: 279 terawatt hours (TWh), against 361 TWh in 2021, very far from the 430 TWh in 2005. It had never chu also low since 1988, when the operator had not yet completed the commissioning of its current fleet of reactors.
Detected on auxiliary pipes, at the end of 2021, a stress corrosion phenomenon led to prolonged shutdowns for checks or maintenance. Starting with those of the most powerful reactors, the pair of Civaux (Vienne) and that of Chooz (Ardennes). Added to this drop in production is that of hydroelectricity in the country (32 TWh, − 22%, due to the drought), unlike wind and solar power worldwide (nearly 25 TWh, +18%).
The second factor is the “exceptional regulatory measures implemented in France in difficult market conditions”, according to Luc Rémont. In other words, to the government’s tariff shield. In the name of household purchasing power in the face of inflation, the executive has raised the volume of Arenh, regulated access to historical nuclear electricity. Since a law at the end of 2010, EDF has had the obligation to sell part of its nuclear electricity at a fixed price to alternative suppliers. A system originally set up to respond to European market liberalization directives.
“Poison” of Arenh
In times of soaring prices on the wholesale market, this combination of loss of production and selling at a knockdown price proved to be a diabolical trap. As early as 2021, the former CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, for once in agreement with the intersyndicale, described the Arenh mechanism as ” poison “.
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