The French authorities mentioned Electricite de France SA Chief Government Officer Luc Remont is stepping down because the state-owned utility faces growing complaints from massive industrial shoppers over the price of electrical energy.
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Printed Mar 21, 2025 • 3 minute learn
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(Bloomberg) — The French government said Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont is stepping down as the state-owned utility faces increasing complaints from large industrial clients over the cost of electricity.
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President Emmanuel Macron is considering appointing Bernard Fontana, the 64-year-old senior executive vice president in charge of the company’s Industry and Services unit, as the new chairman and CEO, the president’s office said in a statement Friday. Remont, 55, has held the positions since November 2022.
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“The selection that the federal government has lengthy supported is electrical energy that’s plentiful, clear and never too costly, and it’s primarily based on this selection that Bernard Fontana’s nomination has been made,” French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou mentioned on a visit to Bourges, central France. “He’s an industrialist, which implies he’s used to working groups and rushing up initiatives.”
Tensions between the federal government, EDF and main prospects have been mounting over the utility’s electrical energy choices. Representatives of power-hungry customers, reminiscent of chemical makers, have mentioned EDF’s new presents aren’t enticing sufficient, threatening their competitiveness, whereas rivals within the US and Asia take pleasure in cheaper power. Their considerations have been exacerbated lately by sluggish financial progress, uncertainties over fuel costs because of the Ukraine warfare, and mounting commerce tensions between Europe, the US and China.
A French regulation that forces the nuclear behemoth to promote greater than 1 / 4 of its atomic output at a steep low cost to present wholesale costs expires at yr’s finish. Meantime, the debt-laden utility mentioned it wants to extend expenditure on nuclear initiatives and the facility grid to assist the nation’s power transition.
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On Thursday, Benoit Bazin, the CEO of French glass and constructing supplies producer Cie. de Saint-Gobain, mentioned on BFM Enterprise tv that his firm has delayed funding in France as a result of it can’t predict power prices from subsequent yr. Meantime, it has invested in Norway and Canada to affect vegetation, and can quickly do the identical in Spain.
Bazin mentioned he was “extraordinarily shocked” by Remont’s current choice to public sale long-term energy provide contracts to rival producers and suppliers, broadening presents that originally have been reserved for its massive electrical energy shoppers.
“EDF is a nationwide firm that has a public service mission on the competitiveness of the French business,” the Saint-Gobain CEO mentioned. “France received’t maintain its business, nor re-industrialization and decarbonization if we maintain strolling on our head.”
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Earlier this week, Marc Schuller, chief working officer of French chemical maker Arkema SA, mentioned throughout a parliamentary listening to that talks with EDF over new energy contracts have been “advancing very slowly.”
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“If nothing is finished, we’ll have to think about shutting down websites and stopping some actions as a result of we wouldn’t be aggressive anymore,” Schuller mentioned.
Fontana has held a wide range of administration positions throughout his profession at steelmakers ArcelorMittal SA and Aperam SA, together with CEO of Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd. Inside EDF, he’s been in cost in recent times of Framatome, the unit that makes massive gear for nuclear vegetation.
Past easing tensions with massive prospects, the long run boss of EDF must full advanced talks with the French and UK governments over the financing and building of latest reactors, that are key planks of those international locations’ net-zero ambitions.
—With help from Shelby Knowles.
(Updates with feedback from prime minister, executives of Saint-Gobain and Arkema.)
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