French workers cut power output by 2.5 gigawatts due to strike

This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. According to the data released on Wednesday, workers at the French energy giant EDF have reduced the country's nuclear and hydropower generation by 2.5 gigawatts. EDF reported on the same day that 37 percent of its total workforce took part in the industrial action that began on Sunday and was sparked by government plans to increase the amount of cheap energy EDF has to sell to rivals at below market prices.

The cost to the EDF will be between 7.7 billion and 8.4 billion euro, depending on market prices, according to Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. Five reactors have been operating at limited capacity due to the strike, which together with the strike-hit hydropower output has resulted in a cut of 2.9 percent of France's power production. According to RTE, France is expected to be a net power importer throughout the day. It comes as countries across Europe grapple with a crisis that is caused by high demand for gas, tensions with Russia over Ukraine and soaring energy needs from economies emerging from Covid around the world.

Professor Jonatan Pinkse, an expert in sustainable energy at the University of Manchester, said the order to sell to rivals would hurt EDF, but the French government is a majority shareholder in the company, so Paris was harming itself. Professor Pinkse stated that in the run-up to the French presidential elections, Mr Macron will favour customers over workers at the EDF, which has a monopoly in France. Under EU rules, member states liberalised their energy market in the early 2000s, but Professor Pinkse explained that while the UK saw a number of energy companies establish themselves, France's energy market liberalisation happened on paper but not in reality. EDF is forced to sell part of its low-cost production to competitors, including TotalEnergies, which can then offer more competitive deals.

Professor Pinkse said that the French are not currently in the best position to ride out of the energy crisis. It is a systemic problem all over Europe. He stated that Germany is in a similar position but is reluctant to burn coal to increase energy supplies due to its commitments to climate. The subject is explosive for the government just a few months before France's presidential election. Far-right election hopeful Eric Zemmour accused Paris and Brussels of killing EDF for demagogic reasons DON'T MISS:

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