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France: Regulator says power price hike plan against clients’ interest

By  |  March 25, 2019

France’s competition authority announced on Monday, March 25, a planned increase in regulated power tariffs proposed by energy regulator CRE was not in consumers’ interest and asked the regulator to reconsider its recommendation.

According to Reuters, the CRE proposed to increase state-controlled utility EDF’s regulated power tariffs by 7.7% excluding taxes (5.9% tax included), which would be the highest increase in years.

France’s Autorite de la Concurrence said in a statement on Monday the CRE proposal was unfavorable for the 28 million clients on regulated tariffs because about 40% of the proposed increase did not correspond to an increase of EDF’s costs, but was rather aimed at allowing EDF’s smaller competitors to propose prices similar to or below regulated tariffs.

The antitrust body stated France needed more power market regulation in order to boost competition and that the ARENH mechanism that gives EDF competitors access to nuclear energy production was in urgent need of reform.

Full Content: Reuters

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