EDF curates the classification of information and documents on the basis of their degree of confidentiality and ensures commensurate security measures are implemented. All customer advisers are regularly informed and trained in this matter, so that they can respond to requests relating to personal data protection and the exercise of related rights. Complex requests are managed jointly with the Data Protection Officer (DPO).
Electricity cannot be stored, and therefore EDF has to supply just the right amount of electricity to match customer demand, at all times and at the lowest cost. The aim of optimisation is to predict this demand and implement the necessary trade-offs between the resources available to satisfy demand (production resources, long-term supply contracts, purchases on wholesale markets, etc.). Optimising EDF’s output also involves covering physical, financial, and market risks.
Regulatory notice
Regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011 (REMIT) on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency entered into effect on 28 December 2011 and is designed to ensure that market participants and consumers have confidence in the integrity of the electricity and gas markets.
Strengthening wholesale energy market integrity and transparency must foster open and fair competition on these markets, in particular so that the prices set on these markets reflect a fair and competitive interplay between supply and demand. The regulation prohibits insider trading and market manipulation, and establishes an obligation to publish inside information, as defined within the meaning of REMIT.
The European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is primarily responsible for monitoring wholesale trades in energy products, in order to detect and prevent transactions based on inside information and market manipulations. ACER also collects the data needed to assess and monitor markets. The regulation provides that market participants, or a person authorised to do so on their behalf, must provide ACER with a detailed statement of operations on the wholesale energy market.
Market participants that perform transactions for which a declaration to ACER is mandatory must register with the national regulatory authority of the Member State in which they are established (the CRE in France) or, if they are not established in the European Union, that of a Member State in which they do business.
Moreover, at the national level, national regulatory authorities also work together and monitor wholesale energy product trading. Member States determine the regime for the penalties that are applicable to REMIT breaches.
In France, the applicable regulations as now codified in the French Energy Code are as follows:
The balance between electricity supply and demand at EDF is managed all the way down to real time, in line with the framework established by risk policies, developed in line with the instructions issued by the Group’s Risk Control Department and validated by EDF’s Executive Committee (see also section 2.2.2 “Financial and market risks”, risk factor 2A “Energy market risk”).
Climate variations have a decisive impact on this management. For example, a fall in temperature of 1°C in the winter leads to a rise in electricity consumption in France by around 2,400MW (1); the brunt of temperature-sensitive demand falls on EDF’s portfolio. In addition, depending on the run-off, the difference in hydro generation output within the EDF perimeter from one extreme year to another can reach 20TW hours, sometimes more.
With respect to RTE, DOAAT plays the role of “balance responsible entity” within EDF’s perimeter in mainland France. In this regard, EDF is committed to financially compensating RTE in the event of a deviation in its balance perimeter. The optimisation consists of making RTE an offer for a schedule that is balanced with the demand, which serves to minimise the supply cost of EDF’s contractual commitments, minimise the risks and ensure the physical security of supply within its perimeter.
The DOAAT ensures that it has, for all timeframes, sufficient resources in order to enable it to meet its commitments. To do this, it manages a set of leveraged actions:
DOAAT also manages the exposure of EDF’s upstream/downstream portfolio to price variations in the energy and fuel (gas, coal, petroleum products) wholesale markets and in the CO2 emissions licensing market, with the assistance of EDF Trading.
EDF maintains commercial relations through energy purchase or sales contracts with European operators. These contracts are of many types, and confer:
Please refer to note 5.1.1 in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 in section 6.1, and to section 1.4.2.1.1 “Competition”.
Please refer to note 5.1 in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022.
(1) Source: RTE.
