RT.com
14 Jan 2022, 17:43 GMT+10
The drop comes amid Paris? move to make Electricite de France sell more power at the lowest possible price
Shares in Electricite de France (EDF) have fallen by as much as 25%, marking the worst drop on record after French authorities backed a plan to force the multinational to sell more power at extreme discounts to protect consumers.
The drastic move, aimed at decreasing the costs for households, was announced by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in an interview with Le Parisien published on Thursday. EDF shares fell to €7.76 on the news, and were trading about 19% lower at €8.41 at 10:15am GMT.
The increase in electricity bills for small businesses and households will be capped at 4% this year, including €8 billion in tax cuts on electricity consumption, according to Le Maire, who highlighted that prices could rise by 35% from February without countermeasures.
The minister also said that EDF's European rivals are entitled by law to purchase 100 terawatt-hours of the giant's annual power output at a high discount on current market prices. The utilities will be given the opportunity to buy another 20 terawatt-hours at low prices.
The unprecedented measure, which still needs to be approved by the European Commission, could reportedly cost the utility, partly owned by the French state, €7.7 billion ($8.8 billion) at Thursday's market prices.
The mandatory price cuts, announced ahead of April's presidential election, come as Europe struggles with the worst supply crunch in history with energy prices across the continent surging to unprecedented levels.
Separately, France's biggest electricity supplier said late on Thursday that several of its nuclear power plants located in the country would be offline longer than projected due to repair works. The delays forced EDF to slash its output forecast from reactors by 8%.
EDF added that it can't know how bad the financial hit could be at this stage and this will depend on market prices for power, but it pledged to "consider appropriate measures to strengthen its balance sheet structure and any measure to protect its interests."
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Paris Guardian news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Paris Guardian.
More InformationMADRID, Spain: Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, have died in a car accident in Spain. Spanish...
LONDON, U.K.: An unrelenting heatwave sweeping across Europe has pushed early summer temperatures to historic highs, triggering deadly...
President Donald Trump's plans to build a space-based Golden Dome missile defense shield have drawn immediate criticism from China,...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Paramount has agreed to pay US$16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump over...
LONDON, U.K.: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won a vote in Parliament this week to move ahead with changes to the country's welfare...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. President...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...
SANTA CLARA, California: Nvidia came within a whisker of making financial history on July 3, briefly surpassing Apple's all-time market...
SACRAMENTO, California: California's multibillion-dollar farms are facing a growing crisis—not from drought or pests, but from a sudden...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...