PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron has decided to appoint Luc Rmont CEO of EDF to replace Jean-Bernard Lvy, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Thursday.
Current head of international affairs at Schneider Electric, Luc Rmont was a favorite to head the energy company, which will soon be renationalised.
According to Le Figaro, he was received Wednesday afternoon at the Elyse before the “imminent” announcement of his appointment.
The newspaper, which does not cite its sources, adds that Emmanuel Macron would have taken the decision to maintain a single governance for EDF, while the hypothesis of a split in the posts between the general management and the presidency was evoked with insistence on these last weeks.
The Elyse did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters.
The change at the head of EDF comes after the State announced in July its intention to launch a takeover bid at 12 euros per share on some 16% of EDF’s capital that it does not yet hold.
While the group is faced with a historically low availability of its nuclear fleet which is aggravating the energy crisis in Europe, the past few weeks have been marked by an indirect pass of arms between Jean-Bernard Lvy and Emmanuel Macron concerning the maintenance of the French nuclear park.
Up to thirty of the 56 reactors in the French nuclear fleet were simultaneously shut down for maintenance operations or corrosion problems, which helped keep electricity prices at record levels while Europe seeks to avoid of Russian gas and that France, usually the largest electricity exporter in the region, became a net importer during this period.
Some analysts also believe that forecasts for restarting EDF reactors by winter may prove to be too optimistic and that France could be forced to ration electricity to meet its own needs.
(Written by Myriam Rivet and Tangi Salan, said by Nicolas Delame)