At the end of July, the French regulator issued a positive opinion on the draft Decree concerning the methodological principles governing the assessment of the full costs of electricity production from nuclear power plants. The new approach ensures continuity with previous methods and allows for the proper reflection of incurred costs.

The regulated access to historical nuclear electricity (ARENH), introduced in December 2010, will come to an end at the close of the year.

EDF, the historical operator of the nuclear fleet, will fully value its production based on wholesale market prices. The volumes previously offered through ARENH will be added to current market trades and will provide additional liquidity, as part of the enhanced role of wholesale markets.

The new mechanism for regulating revenues from the operation of existing nuclear power plants is expected to achieve the following objectives:

• to enable EDF to free up resources to finance its future investments, particularly in new nuclear energy;

• to stabilize electricity prices for consumers;

• to preserve the competitiveness of French industry.

The mechanism involves tax rates when revenues from the sale of electricity from these nuclear power plants exceed certain thresholds. Collected proceeds will be redistributed to end customers.

Once the decree enters into force, the French regulator CRE will be able to carry out the necessary calculations of the full costs of nuclear energy, which are expected to be published in the autumn of 2025.

For more information: CRE