21st January 2022
The global surge in electricity prices has prompted a range of measures in France to protect consumers and preserve the competitiveness of private suppliers.
As wholesale energy prices soar across Europe, France might be expected to be shielded from such pressures by their nuclear power industry, which is capable of producing up to 80% of their needs.
Nevertheless, under European regulations the price of electricity in France is in part indexed to prices in the wider European market and nuclear power generation in France is also operating at reduced capacity due to maintenance being carried out on 14 of their 56 reactors. That has meant that EDF has had to buy electricity on the open market.