EDF will sell at a reduced price up to 40% of its electricity production in 2022 and lose around eight billion on its gross operating surplus.
“We will take care of the grain“As for the repercussion of the reduction in EDF electricity prices by suppliers, announced in recent days in the midst of soaring energy prices, said Friday the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire. “We will ensure that suppliers pass on the full price reduction to the end consumer”committed the minister, questioned on Public Senate.
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Bruno Le Maire added that he would ensure “personally that the pass-through of the fall in prices is full» so that «by the way, the suppliers don’t fill their pockets“. In the midst of soaring energy prices, the government announced in mid-January that it would force EDF to sell more electricity at low prices to its competitors in order to protect the purchasing power of the French.
EDF will thus sell at a reduced price up to 40% of its electricity production in 2022, instead of selling at high market prices, and lose around eight billion on its 2022 gross operating surplus, according to the group. EDF’s CSE Central launched an economic alert procedure on Thursday following these announcements, arguing its fierce opposition to these measures likely to harm its financial health.
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The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), responsible for monitoring EDF’s sale of low-cost electricity to its competitors, said it would denounce any “undue rent” providers. Traveling Friday to Loon-Plage (North), the Minister of Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, assured that he was “No way» of «weaken» EDF.
The State alongside EDF
“EDF’s main shareholder is the State. So it is the regulatory state that takes its responsibilities and defends the French people, their jobs and their purchasing power. And the State shareholder will take its responsibilities and will be alongside EDF to ensure that EDF gets through this period and can strengthen its situation.“, she said after a visit to the Aluminum Dunkirk plant, the largest aluminum refinery in Europe.
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“There is obviously no question of weakening a tool which is now strategic, which is our tool for producing electricity, which ensures our economic sovereignty, our independence and our competitiveness.“, she added. “In our role as shareholder, we will be alongside EDF employees, there is no ambiguity“, insisted the minister during this symbolic trip.
Rising energy costs have forced Aluminum Dunkerque to gradually close tanks since early December, with 31 of them now shut down out of 264, according to its president Guillaume de Goÿs. He estimates “more than thirty million euros» the shortfall in December and the beginning of January.
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Three months before the presidential election, the issue of energy price inflation is explosive for the government. Without intervention to force EDF to supply electricity at lower prices, 150 French companies could have closed due to soaring prices, and 45,000 jobs would have been threatened, the Ministry of Industry estimated on Thursday.