French industry awaits shift in EDF strategy under new CEO

PARIS: Bernard Fontana, France’s nominee to head state nuclear company EDF, would face a daunting to-do list if he gets the job, with his most pressing task being to conclude months of tense talks with French industry over the price of long-term power supply.

A new system for French electricity sales to heavy industry takes effect next year, while the lack of progress on the issue was enough to cost current CEO Luc Remont his job, according to a government source and media reports.

EDF’s pricey offers have so far attracted few companies, raising the risk that both the utility and the country’s biggest companies are left buying and selling at market prices without long-term visibility.

EDF’s failure to agree new, long-term contracts with businesses had become a growing source of frustration for Paris, keen to support an industry already weakened by high energy prices in recent years.

It has also stirred debate about the company’s mission, with industry executives and former officials calling for it to serve a public function. President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in an unexpected announcement on Friday that it had asked Fontana, currently boss of nuclear engineering firm Framatome, to take over from Luc Remont, whose mandate expires this summer.

A day earlier, Benoit Bazin, chief executive of construction materials company Saint Gobain, had called out EDF in a media interview for its failure to fulfil its “historic partnership” with industry.

“The core issue is: Is EDF a public company that should sell at cost or is it a commercial company that should make a profit?”, said Emeric de Vigan, CEO at Paris-based energy consultancy 42 Advisors.

EDF does not disclose its costs of production and declined to comment on the change of leadership.

Remont, who has run EDF since its nationalisation in 2023, said in French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday that he was not prepared to run the company like a public authority.