Aerial view of Strasbourg with the Strasbourg Cathedral
Photo: © Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters/ REUTERS
Apparently because of a software problem, the municipal utility in Strasbourg, France, accidentally sold too much electricity, causing a loss of 60 million euros.
A spokesman for Electricité de Strasbourg, a subsidiary of the energy group EDF, said it could not be ruled out that human error was the cause of the unplanned sale of electricity.
Electricité de Strasbourg produces its own electricity.
Amounts of electricity that are not consumed by the company's own customers are offered for sale to other electricity suppliers across Europe.
The market prices on the electronic electricity exchanges are subject to strong fluctuations.
The company had twice sold larger amounts of electricity in the past week, first two gigawatts, then 5.75 gigawatts.
However, since it did not have these quantities, Electricité de Strasbourg had to buy back the electricity at a higher price.
The estimated damage of 60 million euros is just under the company's annual profit from last year.
Grid operator RTE said it had informed neighboring countries to import electricity in an emergency.
This is necessary so that other power plant operators can adapt to the demand.
In this case, however, that was not necessary, according to RTE.
According to the company, the incident had no impact on the approximately 560,000 customers of Électricité de Strasbourg.
mamk/AFP
