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Forcing EDF to sell more cheap electricity to its competitors was "legal", judges the Council of State

2023-02-03T16:42:53.197Z


The energy company had lodged an appeal against the government, deeming its decision to increase the share of cheap electricity sold by EDF to its competitors illegal.


This is the epilogue of a conflict that has lasted for more than a year.

This Friday, the Council of State issued an expected decision, considering that the "

Government's decision to increase the volume of electricity sold by EDF to its competitors in 2022 within the framework of ARENH

" was "

legal

".

This was however attacked by the unions, the minority shareholders as well as the company itself.

On January 26, 2022, more than 40% of EDF employees – an extremely rare proportion – went on strike to challenge a government decision.

Each year, the public company must sell part of its nuclear energy to its competitors at a discount as part of the liberalization of the French electricity market.

This is what specialists call the Arenh, for regulated access to historical nuclear electricity.

In the midst of the energy crisis, the government decided to increase by 20% last year this share of electricity produced in EDF power stations and sold off to the competition.

The net loss had been calculated at more than 8 billion euros by the company.

Read alsoThe great return of customers to EDF, driven by the rise in electricity prices

The energy unions ended up filing an interim appeal before the Council of State.

The highest administrative court in the country ended up dismissing them a month later.

Then, the CEO of EDF ended up filing his own appeal on behalf of the company.

"

Both the price and the conditions of these allocations penalize us considerably

", declared Jean-Bernard Lévy, who has since left, to justify this unprecedented rebellion vis-à-vis the State-shareholder.

It is only today, after several months of examination, that the Council of State makes its final decision.

This Friday, the wise men of the Royal Palace once again agree with the government, considering that this measure was "

taken in an exceptional context to contain the rise in prices

".

No obstacle to French law or to European Union law, therefore, the government having responded, according to the Council of State, "

to the objectives of the law of 2010

", that is to say "to

guarantee the free choice of supplier and price stability

”.

A few days ago, the public rapporteur pleaded before the Council of State for the “

rejection of all the requests

”.

The applicants did not have sufficiently solid arguments for the government's measure to be deemed illegal.

The administrative authority therefore agreed with him.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2023-02-03

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