Price cap and nuclear outages lead to loss at EDF Energy

EDF Energy has reported a £294 million pre-tax operating loss in its financial results for 2019.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were £684 million, compared with £685 million in 2018.

EDF said the results were affected by an 8.1TWh reduction in nuclear output to 51TWh due to maintenance and outages, in particular from the Hunterston plant in Scotland, as well as the effects of the price cap on default tariffs.

It said these factors were partly countered by an increase in revenue (€309 million) from the Capacity Market following its reinstatement in October, and the higher capture prices for nuclear power (c. +£4/MWh).

Residential customer accounts increased by approximately 98,000 to 5 million. The supplier installed 550,000 smart meters during the year, bringing the total number installed since 2016 to 1.5 million.

The results included the recent acquisition of a majority stake in Pod Point, one of the largest electric vehicle charging companies in the UK, through a joint venture with Legal and General Capital.

The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is currently under construction in Somerset, is on track and achieved all its key milestones in 2019, including the completion of the concrete and steel base of reactor one.

The wider EDF group, meanwhile, saw a 12 per cent increase in EBITDA to €16.7 billion.

This, the group said, was thanks to better price conditions in both France and the UK, and a strong performance from EDF Renewables, which saw its EBITDA rise by a third to €1.1 billion.