Électricité de France
Électricité de France SA (French pronunciation: [elɛktʁisite də fʁɑ̃s]; literally Electricity of France), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company owned by the government of France. Headquartered in Paris, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023,[5] EDF operates a diverse portfolio of at least 120 gigawatts of generation capacity in Europe, South America, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Company type
Compagnie d'Électricité de l'Ouest Parisien 
1946
Government of France under the direction of Provisional Government Minister for Industrial Production Marcel Paul
Worldwide
Luc Rémont (Chairman and CEO)[1]
-€5 billion (2022)[2]
-€18.2 billion (2022)[2]
€388,132 million (2022)[2]
165,000 (2021)[4]
In 2009, EDF was the world's largest producer of electricity.[6] Its 56 active nuclear reactors in France are spread out over 18 sites (18 nuclear power plants). They comprise 32 reactors of 900 MWe, 20 reactors of 1,300 MWe, and 4 reactors of 1,450 MWe, all PWRs.
EDF was created on 8 April 1946 by the 1945 parliament, from the merging of various divided actors. EDF led France's post-war energy growth, with a unique focus on civil nuclear energy, through reconstruction and further industrialization within the Trente Glorieuses, being a flagship of France's new industrial landscape. In 2004, following integration into the European Common Market, EDF was privatized, although the government of France retained 84% equity. In 2017 EDF took over the majority of the reactor business Areva, in a French government-sponsored restructuring.[7][8][9] That same year, following a wish to divest from nuclear energy, the possible closure of 17 of EDF's French nuclear power reactors by 2025 was announced.[10] However, by 2022 this decision had been reversed, with the administration of president Emmanuel Macron announcing plans for a "nuclear renaissance", beginning with the projected construction of 6 EPR model 2 reactors with an option for 8 further reactors.[11] Meanwhile, construction is ongoing on EPR model 1 reactors in France and Britain.
Following privatization, decades of under-investment and the 2021–2022 global energy crisis, the French government announced the full renationalisation of the company for an estimated cost of €5 billion, which it completed in 2023.[12]
The EDF group[edit]
Activities[edit]
EDF specialises in electricity, from engineering to distribution. The company's operations include the following: electricity generation and distribution; power plant design, construction and dismantling; energy trading; and transport. It is active in such power generation technologies as nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass, geothermal energy and fossil-fired energy.[13]
In November 2022, EDF agreed the acquisition of GE Steam Power's nuclear activities, which include the manufacture of non-nuclear equipment for new nuclear power plants including steam turbines and the maintenance and upgrade of existing nuclear power plants outside America.[14] The acquisition was completed on 31 May 2024, and GE Power's nuclear business is now known as Arabelle Solutions.[15]
History[edit]
Status of EDF[edit]
EDF was founded on 8 April 1946, as a result of the nationalisation of around 1,700 smaller energy producers, transporters and distributors by the Minister of Industrial Production Marcel Paul. Mostly a state-owned EPIC, it became the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, enjoying a monopoly in electricity generation, although some small local distributors were retained by the nationalisation.[22] This monopoly ended in 1999, when EDF was forced by a European Directive to open up 20% of its business to competitors.[23]
Until 19 November 2004, EDF was a state-owned corporation, but became a limited-liability corporation under private law (société anonyme), after its status was changed by statute. The French government partially floated shares of the company on the Paris Stock Exchange in November 2005,[24] although it retained almost 85% ownership as of the end of 2008.[25]
On 22 November 2016, French competition regulators raided EDF offices, looking for evidence that EDF was abusing its dominant position to manipulate electricity prices and squeeze rivals.[26]
Finances[edit]
Between 2001 and 2003, EDF was forced to reduce its equity capital by €6.4 billion total because of the performance of subsidiaries in South America and Europe. In 2001, it also acquired a number of British energy companies, becoming the UK's biggest electricity supplier.[27]
The company remains heavily in debt. Its profitability suffered during the recession which began in 2008. It made €3.9 billion in 2009, which fell to €1.02 billion in 2010, with provisions set aside amounting to €2.9 billion.[28]
In January 2013 the company sold its 1.6% stake in U.S. utility Exelon for $470 million.[29]
In March 2016 EDF's Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Piquemal, who had argued that the final investment decision on building Hinkley Point C nuclear power station should be delayed for three years, resigned. With EDF's market value halved over the preceding year, the cost of the Hinkley Point C project now exceeded the entire market capitalisation of EDF.[30][31]
In March 2017 EDF offered a €4bn rights issue of new shares to increase capital availability, at a 34.5% discount. The French government committed to purchasing €3bn of the rights issue. Shares prices fell to an all-time low due to the heavy discount on new shares.[32]
EDF's net debt at the end of 2018 was €33 billion, but with future obligations such as pension liabilities and costs for managing nuclear waste allowed for, the adjusted net debt was €70 billion. In order to improve EDF's finances, as of 2019 EDF has sold €10 billion of assets, with plans to sell a further €2 to €3 billion of assets by 2021, and shareholders have been allocated new shares rather than cash dividends. Bonds have been issued in Asian currencies to expand sources of funding. It has financial commitments for new builds at Flamanville and Hinkley Point C. EDF is committed to spending €49.4 billion by 2025 for life extension of its French nuclear reactor fleet, which as of 2019 has an average age of 33 years, to 50 years.[33][34]
In December 2021, EDF had about €43 billion of debt, which investment analysts Morningstar expected to exceed €60bn by the end of 2022. EDF's credit rating was downgraded in February 2022.[35]