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Energy prices: why EDF employees are on strike this Wednesday

2022-01-26T11:40:05.397Z


Fearing that their group will be in difficulty due to a government decision, the employees of the energy operator are mobilizing


Is the state undressing Pierre to dress Paul?

It is in any case in substance what EDF accuses him of, which fears becoming a collateral victim of the rise in energy prices.

Group employees are on strike on Wednesday to protest against the government's request to sell more electricity at low prices to its competitors in order to contain the electricity bill of households and businesses, in a context of soaring electricity prices. energy.

This decision makes EDF employees fear the consequences for the health of the group and has generated an outcry.

It is part of an arsenal of measures unveiled by the government to contain French bills and honor its promise to limit the increase in regulated electricity prices to 4% in 2022, in a sensitive context a few weeks before the 'presidential election.

Read alsoPurchasing power and presidential: beware, ultra-sensitive subject

Concretely, the government has asked EDF to increase by 20 terawatt hours (TWh) the volume of nuclear electricity sold at a reduced price to its competitors, to increase it from 100 to 120 TWh on an exceptional basis.

This measure will have “a cost for EDF of between 7.7 billion and 8.4 billion euros depending on market prices”, estimates the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.

“A totally absurd decision”

The four main trade unions in the energy sector do not intend to allow this loss to take place and have therefore called for a strike. “It's a totally absurd decision, taken without measuring the long-term consequences. It will considerably weaken EDF, without solving anything to the problem in the long term”, estimates Éric Kozlowski, CFE-CGC union representative at the Golfech nuclear power plant. EDF is already struggling with new delays for the Flamanville EPR (Manche) and with the extension to new reactors of a corrosion problem on safety systems.

The Golfech plant, which employs some 800 people in Tarn-et-Garonne, is one of the gathering points on this day of protest.

For Éric Kozlowski, other solutions exist, such as a VAT reduced to 5.5% on the price of electricity, “but obviously, no other avenue has been studied by the government”.

However, EDF needs to invest “to meet the challenges of combating global warming”.

Read alsoExtreme cold and electricity consumption: the “yellow signal” activated in Île-de-France and Normandy

“At the end of the day, those who will pay will always be the citizens, through their bill.

Through their taxes too, because, if there is a recapitalization and others, all these billions which are squandered, it is somewhere the average citizen who pays it too, ”said Fabrice Coudour, for the CGT.

The government decision criticized by the CEO of EDF

The executive, he does not understand this strike, "because when you are proud to be in a public company like EDF, you also assume to contribute to national solidarity", reacts this Tuesday on France 2 the boss of the LREM deputies Christophe Castaner. “When EDF experienced difficulties, the State

(shareholder with almost 84% of EDF)

was always present. And the state will always be there. Without intervention to force EDF to provide electricity at lower prices, the government says that 150 French companies that consume a lot of electricity could have closed.

➡️EDF: anger



"When you are proud to work in a public company like #EDF, you also assume to contribute to national solidarity."🗨 @CCastaner Pdt LREM group



▶ #Les4V @Caroline_Roux in podcast - https:// t.co/pN7qX0qG78 pic.twitter.com/trSsbTnmps

— Caroline Roux (@Caroline_Roux) January 26, 2022

A rare fact, this government measure moved even the highest levels of business: in an internal message to EDF executives, CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy strongly criticized the government's decision, a "real shock", which he "fought".

Rallies took place during the day on Wednesday, in particular in front of certain nuclear power plants of the group, such as in Golfech (Tarn-et-Garonne), therefore, and Gravelines (North).

Reductions in electricity production are possible, in the opinion of all union sources, but they should not go as far as power cuts.

“We are not in a logic of breaking our working tool, since our claim is to preserve our company”, underlined Amélie Henri, national secretary CFE-Unsa Energies for EDF.

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2022-01-26

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