The French government and the state-owned power utility EDF have reached an agreement on the sale price of nuclear power as of 2026, to replace the existing ARENH tariff that will expire on 31 December 2025. The deal, that is subject to the approval from the European Commission, aims to replace the ARENH law (2010) which obliges EDF to sell part of its nuclear generation (up to 100 TWh/year, i.e., around a quarter of its production) to alternative suppliers on the wholesale market at a regulated price, which has been set by the CRE at €42/MWh since 2012 (with an additional 20 TWh sold at €46.2 TWh in January 2022).
Under the terms of the agreement, EDF will offer its entire nuclear power generation to alternative suppliers at a price of €70/MWh. In addition, the agreement also introduces a "rent capture" mechanism: when wholesale electricity prices exceed €78-80/MWh, EDF's excess revenues will be taxed at 50% to be redistributed to end users (residential customers and maybe SMEs); this share will raise to 90% of excess revenues if prices exceed €110/MWh.
At end-2022, EDF’s installed nuclear capacity in France stood at 61 GW and the group generated 293 TWh of nuclear power in France. In June 2023, the French government nationalized EDF by taking over its shares on a €9.7bn investment to expedite critical projects such as the construction of new nuclear power plants.
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