(Montel) EDF posts operating loss of EUR 19 billion in 2022

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French utility EDF posted an operating loss of EUR 19.36bn last year due to record low nuclear output and government caps on energy bills, it said on Friday.

The nuclear giant delivered a net loss of EUR 17.94bn in 2022, against a profit of EUR 5.11bn a year earlier.

“The 2022 results were significantly affected by the decline in our electricity output, and also by exceptional regulatory measures introduced in France in difficult market conditions,” the firm’s CEO Luc Remont said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the firm’s trading arm saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) jump to EUR 6.41bn in 2022, against EUR 1.2bn last year, taking advantage of high market volatility, the group said.

Heavy maintenance schedule

EDF, which is in the process of being fully nationalised, saw nuclear output fall to a 33-year low in 2022 due to a heavy maintenance schedule and extended outages caused by corrosion probes and repairs.

France’s nuclear output plummeted by 22.6% year on year, down 81.7 TWh to 279 TWh, the nuclear giant added.

Economy minister Bruno Le Maire and energy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in a joint statement they were counting on “Remont, and on all the company’s employees to restore EDF’s full electricity production as soon as possible”.

They said they believed “the recovery of EDF’s finances will be achieved primarily by increasing the volume of production”.

Hydropower output in France stood at 32.4 TWh, down by 9.4 TWh from 2021 due to record low hydropower conditions.

To help energy consumers cope with soaring prices amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, the French government announced a cap on power price increases for 2022 and 2023.

High power prices

As a result, EDF was forced to sell an additional 19.5 TWh of regulated nuclear power output to its rivals, under the so-called Arenh measure, at EUR 46.20/MWh until year end and had to make significant power purchases at high price levels, amid the continent’s supply squeeze due to lower gas flows from Russia.

The company’s debt increased EUR 21.5bn to reach a record of EUR 64.3bn, which it said was due to lack of cash flow from operations, the redemption of hybrid bonds, which had a total impact of EUR 1bn, and a EUR 3.15bn capital increase in April.

Nevertheless, the government launched a EUR 9.7bn takeover bid in September for the 16% of the utility it did not already own, as part of a strategy to revive the nuclear sector in France. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to build six new nuclear reactors with an option for eight more by 2050.