EDF and the French State have reached an agreement whereby EDF will receive full compensation for having borne the cumulated financial deficits related to the Contribution to Electricity Public Services (CSPE) mechanism over the years. French authorities will provide the reimbursement of the receivable made of the CSPE deficit as of 31 December 2012 of €4.3bn - the final receivable amount will be confirmed later in 2013 when the energy regulator CRE will validate the actual CSPE deficit for 2012 - and of the cumulated implied financing costs of this deficit of €0.6bn. This receivable of €4.9bn will be staggered according to a gradual schedule and will be fully repaid by 31 December 2018. The outstanding receivable will bear interest at market rates.
The CSPE was designed as a tax levied on electricity end-customers’ bills, aimed to enable French electricity incumbent players, like EDF, to recover the extra charges incurred in performing their mandatory public service assignments (renewable generation, social tariffs and electricity tariffs nationwide equalisation). Since 2007, the level set for the CSPE collection has been insufficient to compensate for the increase in the charges. This resulted in the accumulation of a CSPE deficit, borne by EDF only, which weighs on the group indebtedness.
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