Europe 1 with AFP 3:31 p.m., September 12, 2022

A "malfunction" which could be linked to human error resulted in a loss of 60 million euros for Electricité de Strasbourg, one of EDF's subsidiaries.

The operator sold on the markets, in two instalments, electricity that it did not have, and which it therefore had to buy back at a high price.

A "malfunction", possibly caused by human error, caused Electricité de Strasbourg (ÉS), a subsidiary of EDF, to lose some 60 million euros last week during an "erroneous" sale of colossal quantities. electricity on the market, we learned Monday from the company and RTE.

The operator sold on the markets, in two instalments, electricity that it did not have, and which it therefore had to buy back at a high price, thus forcing the electricity network manager to urgently request neighboring countries to avoid possible cuts.

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"As part of the recurring electricity supply activity of ÉS Énergies Strasbourg, a marketing subsidiary of the ÉS group, market transactions were incorrectly issued in quantities of 2.03 GW and 5.75 GW respectively. GW (...) on September 6 and 7," Electricité de Strasbourg said in a statement dated Thursday, confirming information from the Financial Times.

"A malfunction of the information system" 

The "estimated cost" of the incident amounted to 60 million euros, then clarified the company.

"We operated on the markets in an erroneous way of orders for unusual quantities", explained Frédéric Thiry, director of communication of ÉS, a local distribution company, an 89% subsidiary of EDF.

According to the first elements of the internal investigation, "a malfunction of the information system" is at the origin of this incident detected on September 7, even if the company does not exclude either that a "human error is at the origin of a computer runaway".

The incident in any case forced the company to buy back electricity on the wholesale market at more than 500 euros per MWh, very high prices, due to the surge in energy prices.

According to RTE, these rebalancing and volume readjustment operations have thus avoided tensions on an already weakened electricity network, due to the unavailability of more than half of the French nuclear fleet.

“No consequences” for its customers

Contacted by AFP, the manager of the RTE electricity network confirms that "there was an incident which could have caused tension. As a precaution, we asked our neighboring countries to see if they could help us", which ultimately did not intervene because of this "rebalancing" operated by ÉS, explained a spokesperson.

ÉS, which produces renewable energies and supplies electricity to some 560,000 subscribers at the regulated tariff, said that the malfunction would have "no consequences" for its customers, "both on their contract and on prices".

In 2021, its net income amounted to 66.7 million euros.