After a closely followed day of strike action at the end of January against “the destruction of the public service”, the four trade union federations representing energy intend to bring their dispute before the European Commission. In a press release sent to World, CGT, CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO announce their intention to file a complaint in the coming days, possibly as early as Monday, March 14, for illegal state aid for the benefit of EDF’s competitors. A complaint to which the employee shareholders of the electrician intend to join.
While denouncing the effects of the liberalization imposed in Europe, the unions intend this time to turn a sacrosanct principle of the European Commission to their advantage. That of tracking down any public aid likely to distort competition in the common market. They want to ask Brussels to“to open a formal examination procedure against the French government”, of ” to suspend ” the aid announced by the State in January (but without decree or decree so far), and to support future appeals before the French courts.
In the midst of the European energy price crisis, the government announced it, in January, three months before the presidential election: in order to keep its promise to limit to 4% (instead of 44% excluding tax), in February , the rise in regulated electricity prices for households and businesses, the State has decided to force EDF, of which it is the majority shareholder, to come to the aid of… competition. The measure relates to the “blue tariff” of the electrician, to which the majority of households subscribe, and from which the tariffs of the competition are indexed.
Take advantage of the incumbent supplier
Since a law of 2010, EDF has already been obliged to sell part of its nuclear production at a fixed price to competition. This is the principle of Arenh, regulated access to historical nuclear electricity, contested not only by employees but also by EDF management. It allows around forty alternative suppliers, including the oil and gas major TotalEnergies, to take advantage of the incumbent supplier without having to produce anything.
For the current year, the government now wants to raise the ceiling, to increase it from 100 to 120 terawatt hours (TWh). The electrician will therefore be forced to “sell off” between 38% and 41% of its nuclear power, since EDF plans French production for the current year between 295 and 315 TWh – a historically low level for three decades, in particular due to reactors down for maintenance or problems.
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