EDF Should Face Penalty for Hinkley Delay, U.K. Ex-Minister Says
- Yeo says any delay beyond 2025 should reduce power price
- Premier May has postponed Hinkley decision until September
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Electricite de France SA should receive lower payments for the power generated by its planned nuclear reactors in southwest England if the project is delayed beyond 2025, a former Conservative minister who now lobbies for the nuclear industry said.
When the British government agreed in 2013 to pay EDF 92.50 pounds ($121) per megawatt-hour of electricity from the planned power station at Hinkley Point, the French utility was projecting it would be operational in the early 2020s, a deadline that has since slipped to 2025. The U.K. has pledged to phase out all of its coal-fired plants by the same year and is also shutting down aging reactors, so it needs to line up replacements to ensure the lights stay on.