EDF's UK Profits Soar After Electricity Price Hikes
February 17, 2023
French energy giant EDF's UK arm returned to profit in 2022, boosted by it being able to sell the electricity it generated for a higher price.
The firm's underlying profit before one-off items was £1.12bn, compared with a loss of £21m in 2021.
However, its UK energy supply arm lost more than £200m in the year.
The firm said that was because the cost of buying energy for its residential customers was higher than the prices set under the energy price cap.
EDF, which supplies gas and electricity to about five million UK households, is 84% owned by the French state, but will soon be fully nationalised.
The company said it invested more than £2.6bn in 2022 in its UK nuclear, renewables and customer businesses.
It said it planned to invest a further £13bn in the UK in the next three years, largely at Hinkley Point C, the new nuclear power station being built in Somerset that is due to open in 2027.
Some £2bn will be invested in its existing UK nuclear fleet and renewable projects.
The EDF Group posted an underlying loss for 2022 of €4.99bn (£4.44bn) blaming "the decline in nuclear output" and "the impact of the exceptional regulatory measures to limit price increases for consumers in 2022".
The latter refers to a cap on consumer prices imposed by the French government meaning EDF ended up selling the electricity at a lower price than it paid for it.
That cost the group €8.2bn (£7.3bn) in the year, it said, which effectively wiped out the €8.7bn (£7.8bn) it made from "market price rises passed on to customers".
The record loss of almost €5bn comes as the company gets close to becoming fully owned by the French government, with the takeover expected to be completed in May.
The figure prompted the firm's chairman and chief executive Luc Rémont, appointed in November, to focus on future prospects rather than past problems.
"Our priority right now is improving EDF's financial position, and I am confident that the benefits of the actions taken will begin to show in 2023," he said.
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