UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar

theguardian.com:

The UK arm of the French energy company EDF bounced back to profit last year, making more than £1bn, as it was boosted by the rising cost of wholesale energy, which allowed it to sell the electricity it generated at a higher price.

The firm made a pre-tax profit of £1.1bn in the UK last year, before one-off items, a recovery from a loss of £21m a year earlier.

EDF, which runs Britain’s nuclear power stations, said the profit was related to stronger operational performance of its nuclear fleet, and higher energy prices.

The company, which is mostly state-owned but is being fully nationalised in France, is now the UK’s fourth-largest energy supplier, providing gas and electricity to more than 5m UK households.

EDF said that Britain’s cap on energy bills hit earnings at its energy supply business, which made a loss of £200m. The company said this was because it cost it more to buy energy to supply to its residential customers than the price it was allowed to charge them under the energy price cap.

The UK profit was a rare bright spot for EDF in its annual results, which reported a record net loss of €17.9bn (£16bn) for the whole group in 2022, as its nuclear output plunged to a 34-year low after a record number of outages at its reactors in France. Stress corrosion cracks were found in pipes in the cooling systems of some reactors.

The group’s net debt also rose to almost €65bn last year, up from €43bn a year earlier.

EDF’s chief executive, Luc Rémont, who was appointed by the French government last November to turn the company around, said: “Today, our priority is to put EDF back on track.”

EDF said it invested £2.6bn in the UK in 2022 in its nuclear, renewables and customer businesses.

The company – which is building Britain’s