France: competition is coming

It appears that the wind of change has been blowing over France since the summer of 1998. As France races to meet the EU imposed deadline for opening its electricity market to competition, a draft law has been issued in November 1998 and is due to be debated by Parliament in the early days of 1999. In parallel, EDF has been redefining its strategy to be better prepared for competitive markets and become “the leading energy company in Europe”. At the same time, the wind, blowing west from Germany, has been bringing to France the idea that there may be alternatives to nuclear power for generating electricity, and that some diversification in the generation mix might be desirable. Dr Silvia Pariente-David Director, Economics & Analytics, Europe, Hagler Bailly