Electricity: the agreement between EDF and the State will “result in price increases”, but “limited”, warns a minister

White smoke above the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial Sovereignty. An agreement was reached between EDF and the State on the price of nuclear electricity, as Le Figaro anticipated a few days ago. Industry Minister Roland Lescure returned to France Info on Tuesday morning on the main objectives of this agreement, before revealing the details during a press conference later in the morning.

The main part of these measures consists of “avoiding the peaks in energy prices that we had last year,” recalled Roland Lescure. Concretely, “there will be an absolute ceiling which will protect households and industrialists”, he continued, before lip-confirming the amount put forward by Le Figaro at the start of the week of 70 euros per MWh. The minister recalled that this is a target price. “There are times when we will pay less, there are times when we will pay more, but this “more” will be capped in any case to avoid the peaks of last year,” he clarified. .

The target price (or average price) therefore increases from 42 euros per MWh to 70 euros per MWh. “This will result in increases in energy prices, but they will be limited. Above all, prices will be less volatile than in the past,” Roland Lescure reassured, before recalling the surge in energy prices last year which led France to legislate.

Despite this increase, the price of nuclear electricity supplied by EDF remains below the prices charged elsewhere in Europe and around the world. The financial room for maneuver thus created should allow the public company to invest massively in its nuclear fleet to continue the energy transition. EDF's colossal debt, which exceeds 60 billion euros, makes it difficult to achieve ambitious objectives in terms of electricity consumption in the coming years.