Electricity price: “it is difficult to say where the market price will be in 5 to 10 years”

What will be the real price of electricity in the coming years? This is the question that companies and individuals are asking since the publication of the total cost of electricity production from EDF power plants re-evaluated by the Energy Regulatory Commission for the period 2026-2040. The president of the CRE, Emmanuelle Wargon, was present on Friday morning on the set of BFM Business to give some details about the figure of 60 euros that emerges from this document.

As part of its advisory and expert assessment functions, the CRE has carried out, at the request of the government, these calculations that represent the total cost of production of current nuclear energy” and “therefore do not cover the financing of new nuclear energy.” The contradiction that public authorities face is, on the one hand, allowing EDF to have a sustainable economic development model over time to finance the works of the current power plants and new reactors and, on the other, preserving the purchasing power and competitiveness of companies with an essential good for homes and businesses,” adds Emmanuelle Wargon, who specifies that “negotiations are still being made” to find “this point of balance.”

“It is difficult to say where the market price will be in 5 to 10 years”

The CRE representative also highlights that the electricity that companies and individuals benefit from comes, on the one hand, from the wholesale market “which puts all means of production in competition” and, on the other, from nuclear electricity “which in part is sold at a regulated price”. price and piece sold on the market. “It is difficult to say where this market price will be set in five or ten years,” he admits, recalling that today it is around 130 euros per MWh, after having reached a maximum of 1,000 euros in the midst of the energy crisis. a little over a year ago.

Given this lack of visibility, the former minister took the opportunity to advocate for an increase in long-term prices in the markets. “When you want to ensure the supply of a good as essential as electricity, it is interesting to be able to have long-term prices, he believes. This should allow visibility and, depending on the types of contracts, should allow prices to be brought closer to the costs of production”.