Electricity supply

Executive summary

2022 Annual Public Report

2

The health crisis has tested the ability of players in the electricity sector to ensure the

production and delivery of electricity in order to meet consumer needs.

Despite the activity and travel restriction measures put in place from the 1

st

quarter of

2020 to combat the spread of the pandemic, the electricity supply was maintained. This

undeniable success of all the players in the electricity sector (State, energy regulatory

commission, nuclear safety authority, network operators, producers and electricity suppliers)

deserves recognition. However, there are lessons to be learned from this unprecedented crisis,

by exploiting feedback from the management of the spring 2020 crisis and from the

implementation of business continuity plans.

Furthermore, at the height of the crisis, the State sought to protect consumers and

businesses likely to encounter difficulties in paying their electricity bills through various

measures, such as extension of the winter “truce” (

trêve hivernale

), suspension of

disconnections and deferred billing. The financial impacts of these measures for the electricity

suppliers that implemented them should also be assessed so that, in the future, the

consequences of such decisions can be better anticipated.

The State has also provided financial support to EDF, the main electricity producer in

France, whose accounts were affected in 2020 by the crisis. In particular, it subscribed to a

bond issue for the company to the tune of €960

million. The very sharp increase in prices on

the electricity markets during 2021 is expected to significantly improve EDF’s financial outlook

in the short term. Its financial trajectory in the medium and long term, however, remains

dependent on the main regulatory mechanisms of the electricity sector, which determine the

income that the company derives from its electricity production, particularly nuclear, and can

change according to the decisions of the public authorities.

The health crisis has above all highlighted t

he consequences of the electricity system’s

lack of margins to prevent any risk to the security of supply. Every year since 2017, the

transmission system operator (RTE) has indicated, in its forecasts for the electricity supply and

demand balance, that the period from 2018 to 2022 promises to be “without leeway”, due to

the withdrawal of certain means and the delay in the implementation of new electricity

generation capacities. This situation also results from the need to implement a major

maintenance programme for the nuclear plant fleet. However, the measures intended to limit

the spread of the epidemic have seriously affected the corresponding operations, which are

already subject to major constraints (industrial, human, regulatory, etc.). These disruptions

have fuelled fears as to the actual availability of the fleet of reactors from autumn 2020 onwards

and with regard to the electricity supply-demand balance for winter 2020-2021.

Consequently, EDF has extensively reviewed the schedule for its maintenance

programme to increase the

reactors’

availability during the winter of 2020-2021 as well as for

the subsequent winters. The operational and industrial success of this reorganisation is clear.

Since winter 2020-2021 was not particularly harsh, it ultimately passed without difficulty, but

continued vigilance is required for the coming winters. RTE has even stepped up its vigilance

for the heart of winter 2021-2022 following further unplanned unavailabilities of nuclear

reactors.

3

Changes in electricity production between 2019 and 2020 (in TWh) and comparison

with the drop in consumption

Source: Court of Accounts, based on SDES and RTE data

There are several ways in which security of supply margins can be restored. In the short

term, the aim is to develop the “shedding capacities” resulting from incentive schemes for

reducing consumption during peaks in demand. In the medium term, additional generation

capacity will have to be commissioned. This capacity is provided for in the multi-annual energy

programming (PPE) adopted for the 2019-2023 period, but the delays in achieving the

objectives set by this programme, which had accumulated beforehand, then worsened during

the crisis. The backlog therefore needs reducing.

Recommendations

The Court makes the following recommendations:

1.

Take stock of the financial consequences for suppliers of the emergency measures

implemented by the Government in response to the crisis in the electricity sector

(CRE,

2022)

;

2.

Take into account, during revision of the current national electricity continuity plan, feedback

from the Covid-19 crisis and ensure its coordination with the

operators’

plans in the sector

(DGEC, 2022)

;

3.

Reduce the backlog in the development of the new load shedding and production capacities

provided for in the multi-annual energy programming in order to improve the security of

supply

(DGEC, 2022)

.