The energy sector regulator announced on Tuesday reinforced controls on electricity suppliers, as part of the mechanism by which they have cheap access to part of EDF's nuclear production.
The mechanism called Arenh (for “regulated access to historic nuclear electricity”) allows alternative suppliers to purchase nuclear electricity from EDF at a fixed and rather modest price, especially compared to prices on the wholesale market. , which are currently flying.
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They must formulate their requests for 2022 at a window in November. If supplier demand exceeds the maximum volume available (limited to 100 TWh, or around a quarter of EDF's production), this demand is “
capped
” and is therefore only partially satisfied. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) warns that it will set up for the November window "
reinforced controls and exceptional rules for taking into account the Arenh volumes requested by suppliers
", this "
in view of the exceptional crisis facing the electricity market
”.
"
CRE will strengthen its supervision and, from the first quarter of 2022, will carry out systematic or targeted checks of the actual development observed in the portfolios of suppliers' customers with respect to the forecasts presented during their request
", she indicates. .
If the volumes of electricity requested do not reflect the real commercial dynamics of suppliers, the regulator threatens a referral to its Disputes and Sanctions Committee "
with a view to a financial sanction procedure
".
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Under the Arenh scheme, suppliers can buy electricity at 40 euros per megawatt hour against some 120 euros currently on the market.
They should therefore rush en masse to buy via this mechanism and will probably not be served to the height of their demands.