Undermined by difficulties, EDF in the red in the first half
War in Ukraine, reactor shutdowns, tariff protection, historic drought: headwinds are building for EDF in 2022. While the state has started the process of nationalizing the energy company, the latter announced on Thursday July 28 after suffering one of the heaviest losses in its history in the first half of the year at 5.3 billion euros. “Has there ever been a semester in the history of EDF where the numbers were this negative? I very much doubt it”paid tribute to its CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy. “The results of the first half reflect the difficulties encountered in France in relation to nuclear energy and, to a lesser extent, hydropower, as well as the impact of the tariff protection introduced in France for 2022”, he added.
In this context of price cap aimed at saving household bills, EDF sold cheaper electricity to its competitors, the alternative suppliers, as required by the regulations. A measure that is expected to be renewed for 2023 and whose negative impact on gross operating surplus (ebitda) will reach around 10 billion euros in 2022. And this despite the fact that on July 23rd MEPs voted in favor of increasing these tariffs from EUR 42 to EUR 49.50 from July 1stah January 2023. “These events are forcing the group to purchase electricity in a context of high market prices”summed up the energy company, which is 84% state-owned.
Under these conditions, the group’s net financial debt at the end of June was 42.8 billion euros compared to 43 billion at the end of 2021, despite the capital increase of 3.1 billion euros at the end of March. Sales, on the other hand, rose sharply (+67.2%) to EUR 66.262 billion, supported by the sharp rise in electricity and gas prices in Europe.
“Security Issues”
However, an announcement shed some light on that bleak picture after EDF received the green light from the Nuclear Safety Agency (ASN) on Wednesday as part of its inspection program related to corrosion issues. Jean-Bernard Lévy indicated a decision that confirms the group’s desire to produce between 280 and 300 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2022 and then between 300 and 330 TWh in 2023. On this subject, EDF plans to carry out an ultrasonic inspection of all its reactors by 2025 to look for traces of this problem, which has led to the shutdown of 12 out of 56 reactors.
The group must primarily control the most sensitive areas of the 1,450 megawatt (MW) and around 1,300 MW reactors. “EDF’s strategy is appropriate given the knowledge acquired of the phenomenon and the security issues it poses”agreed the ASN in its July 27 press release, without calling for a stricter control plan overall.
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