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ENERGY

E.ON sells British power grid to US group

E.ON, Germany's biggest power group, said Wednesday that it will sell its British electric grid business Central Networks to the US group PPL for €4.7 billion ($6.5 billion).

E.ON sells British power grid to US group
Photo: DPA

In April 2010, E.ON already sold its US subsidiary to Pennsylvania Power & Light for $7.6 billion.

The latest transaction, which involves the second biggest British power grid and includes the transfer of $585 million in debt, should be finalised by early April, an E.ON statement said.

The German group plans to sell non-core assets worth €15 billion by the end of 2013 to pay down massive debt and the sale of Central Networks was decided as part of that strategy.

E.ON has also unloaded shares in the Russian gas giant Gazprom for €3.4 billion.

Another company, Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) based in Hong Kong, had also bid for the British network, press reports said in Britain last month.

In the end, however, PPL was chosen to buy the grid system in central Britain that serves 5 million clients.

The acquisition will make it the largest network operator in Britain since PPL already serves 2.6 million clients there via its Wester Power Distribution unit, according to information on the US group’s website.

“Opportunities as compelling as this do not come along very often,” PPL chairman Jim Miller was quoted as saying.

AFP/rm

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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