Electricité de France has a new CEO. Parliament approved, Wednesday, October 26, the appointment of Luc Rémont to take the helm of EDF. The Elysée had proposed this appointment a few weeks ago. Following a vote, the Economic Affairs Committees of the National Assembly and the Senate “issued a favorable opinion on the appointment of Luc Rémont as CEO of EDF”according to a press release from the National Assembly.
Once his appointment has been formally announced by decree, Luc Rémont will have titanic projects ahead of him. The future boss of EDF revealed to senators and deputies his roadmap for overcoming the “serious crisis” through the giant electrician weakened by nuclear production at its lowest and a gigantic debt.
“In this context of energy crisis, EDF is itself going through a serious crisis, of a technical and industrial nature, which is accentuating the tension on the energy supply”, noted the next CEO. The urgency is known: half of the French nuclear fleet is unavailable due to scheduled maintenance or corrosion problems.
The challenge will be to restart enough reactors to cope with consumption peaks in winter. “From the first hours of (s)we mandate”, Luc Rémont plans to devote himself “totally” at “keep the company’s commitments for the resumption of production of the shutdown reactors”.
Beyond winter, the future strongman of EDF presented his medium and long-term priorities. He cited the relaunch of a nuclear program wanted by the government (six new reactors, and small reactors of the SMR type), hydroelectric investment, “a leading role in renewables” and “the development and adaptation of networks to more decentralized electricity”in particular through self-consumption, according to his written responses.
The financial situation of EDF, whose debt could reach 60 billion euros at the end of the year, requires “short-term vigilance so as not to have to reduce investments and compromise the future”, judged Luc Rémont. If this situation “should improve” with the restarting of reactors, the next CEO deemed it necessary to “long-term visibility” on the regulatory measures intended to limit the increase in the price of electricity for customers for whom EDF bears the majority of the costs.