A strike on Thursday by French energy workers has hit both state-owned Electricite de France's power output and Gaz de France's import terminal at Fos.
The leading CGT union said workers, who started the 24-hour strike at 9 pm (1900 GMT) on Wednesday to protest against the utilities' partial privatisation, have cut under 12,000 megawatts (MW) or 12 percent of France's main power producer's generation capacity.
"The cuts reached under 10,000 MW at 7 am and is now at under 12,000 MW and could increase," a CGT strike official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
EDF said the impact was less severe, peaking at 10,000 MW during the night and falling to 6,000 MW by 8 am.
"There have been reductions but it peaked at 10,000 MW last night and there is no supply disruption to our customers," said an EDF spokesman.
The CGT strike official said output had been reduced at nuclear power plants at Dampierre, Penly, Flamanville, Paluel, Saint Laurent, Cruas, Saint Alban and Bugey, and at thermal power plants at Porcheville, Le Havre and Bouchain.
He said sister company Gaz de France's terminal at Fos on the Mediterranean was also hit with distribution reduced to a minimum, and that the port workers would not discharge any tankers.
A GDF spokeswoman said that there were no tankers due to discharge and that the gas transport grid had not been affected.
"In principle, there are no disruptions on the gas transport network and there are no (scheduled) tanker discharges at Fos or Montoir," she said, referring to the firm's two import facilities.
She said about 45 percent of GDF's staff was on strike.
The CGT did not have details on the turnout but said it expected about 80,000 energy workers from across the country, who are protesting the change of the utilities' legal status into limited liability firms to demonstrate in Paris from 11 am.
French peak power prices for Thursday in the grid's intra-day balancing mechanism, which adjusts immediate demand and supply, jumped at 6 am to 105 euros ($127.2) a megawatt hour from 50 euros at 5.30 am on the strike.
Traders had been expecting a leap in prices but latest levels at 10 am were still below the high of 190 euros reached on April 8.
The powerful unions, who fear for jobs and the French tradition of public services, have threatened to step up their actions before a June 15 parliamentary debate of the status change, a key step before a sell-off of shares in the firms.
Thursday's strike had targeted cuts greater than on April 8, when workers achieved one of their greatest strike cuts of 12,000 MW and also led to exports from Europe's top power supplier being halved.
A spokeswoman from the French grid operator RTE said there were few disruptions and little impact on the power network but said data on export levels were not available as workers of the EDF subsidiary were also on strike.
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