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French Power Climbs to 7-Month High on Output Cuts, Imports
2010-10-20 16:09:59.851 GMT
By Lars Paulsson
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- French day-ahead power jumped to its
highest price since March as strikers in France cut capacity at
Electricite de France SA's facilities.
Labor action at Electricite de France led to a 2,000
megawatt drop in output today, CGT union spokesman Laurent
Langlard said by phone. Yesterday, workers cut capacity by 5,000
megawatts, according to the union.
The cuts have forced France, Europe's second biggest
market, to import electricity from neighboring countries.
Imports were as much as 5,990 megawatts between 1 p.m. and 2
p.m. local time today, according to grid operator Reseau de
Transport d'Electricite, a unit of Electricite de France SA.
That's equivalent to output from about 6 nuclear reactors.
Baseload electricity for delivery tomorrow in Europe's
second-biggest market rose 4.6 percent to 75 euros ($104) a
megawatt-hour today on the Epex Spot SE exchange in Paris.
Baseload is delivered around the clock.
"There are limits to what strikers can do because supply
is tight," Langlard said, adding that the utility has 18
nuclear reactors offline of its 58-unit fleet.
Workers are on strike as part of a national protest that
paralyzed ports and refineries over a government plan to raise
the retirement age.
The corresponding over-the-counter contract jumped as much
as 31 percent to 95 euros in the morning market, its highest
level since January 2009.
For Related News and Information:
European power-market stories TNI EUROPE PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top power news PTOP <GO> and energy news ETOP <GO>
European Energy Brokers Page NRGB <GO>
--With assistance by Tara Patel in Paris Editors: Raj Rajendran,
Alex Devine.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Lars Paulsson in London at +44-207-673-2759 or
lpaulsson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
