Times: “The chief executive of EDF Energy will leave Britain if the French company’s £14 billion Hinkley Point reactor project collapses.” “Vincent de Rivaz, the longest-serving boss of Britain’s Big Six energy companies, has staked his credibility on getting the plan to build Britain’s first new reactors for decades off the ground. However, the chances of the project going ahead are receding, with EDF Energy and the Government in a stand-off over the level of subsidies – funded by levies on consumers’ bills – that the company will receive. One source said that the Government had made several minor concessions in recent days, but the two sides remained far apart. ….Hinkley Point costs have risen by about 40 per cent to £14 billion, which means that EDF Energy must secure bigger subsidies from the Government to make the plan viable. The company wants a guaranteed fixed price of £100 per megawatt hour (MWh) for about 35 years for the electricity generated by Hinkley Point, almost twice the present wholesale rate, which would give it a 10 per cent rate of return. ….With EDF Energy spending £1 million a day to keep the project going, it is thought that the group will walk away if no deal is struck by the summer. Last month EDF announced job cuts, believed to amount to about 150 out of the project’s 800-strong workforce, but insisted that talks with the Government were making progress.”
Future Today
