Margaux Fodéré, with AFP
modified to
10:05 p.m., February 17, 2023
EDF announced on Friday that it had recorded a historic loss of 17.9 billion euros in 2022, widening its debt to an equally record level of 64.5 billion euros, at the end of a dark year weighed down by the setbacks of its nuclear fleet but also its forced contribution to the “tariff shield” of the French.
EDF is doing its accounts and they are not good. The electricity giant announced this Friday morning that it had recorded a historic loss of 17.9 billion euros in 2022 and had increased its debt to an equally record level of 64.5 billion euros. In 2021, the debt was 43 billion. Between the energy crisis and the state of the French nuclear fleet, the stakes are high for the new boss, Luc Rémont.
The consequences of the tariff shield
2022 will not have been a long calm river for EDF. The group had to face various crises, first industrial, with the discovery of corrosion on pipes essential for its nuclear reactors to operate in complete safety. The health crisis had already disrupted the maintenance program. The accumulated delay had left us fearing the worst for this winter even if so far, everything is going well. The prospect of cut seems forgotten thanks to the importation of electricity, to the efforts of sobriety, but also to the acceleration operated by EDF at the end of last year to reconnect its reactors.
The electrician also suffered the consequences of the tariff shield for the benefit of individuals, but also of industry. A salty addition: more than 8 billion euros. Without forgetting the obligation to sell to its competitors a part of its nuclear production at cost price. But the outlook is not all bleak. To speed up the construction of new EPRs, the State, which intends to renationalise EDF 100%, will necessarily have to inject money and support Luc Rémont, the new boss appointed to replace Jean-Bernard Lévy.