France should re-open renegotiation of long-term power contracts, Le Maire tells industry bosses
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday said he wanted to renegotiate long-term contracts between state-owned electric utility EDF and large industrial clients in a bid to win the support of business leaders ahead of snap parliament elections.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Le Maire’s call to re-negotiated long-term power contracts comes as a concession to the country’s struggling industrial sector which complains about high production prices, hampering its competitiveness.
KEY QUOTE(S)
“We have proposed long-term contracts. Is the price satisfactory? No. Will it therefore be necessary to reopen the negotiation with EDF? My answer is yes,” Le Maire said at an event organised by the Medef, France’s main employer organisation.
CONTEXT
The government put in place long-term contracts in a bid to offer attractive and less volatile prices to industry players, but so far only a few clients reached a deal with EDF.
The utility reported a 2023 net profit of 10 billion euros, a significant turnaround from a loss of 17.9 billion in 2022.
French electricity prices saw a sharp increase in 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but came down as EDF connected more nuclear reactors to the grid after a period of heavy maintenance works.
