EDF may cut power to certain homes

EDF may introduce rolling blackouts to certain homes to avoid the breakdown of the national grid.

Cold weather has placed a record amount of strain on electricity producers and two regions, Brittany and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, are in danger of the system collapsing.

The director of EDF, Pierre Gadonneix, said there was a risk of a national blackout if the network was overloaded.

This was particularly a problem in the two regions as they do not produce their own power and depend on other departments to supply them.

“For the moment this is working but if it gets any colder we can’t rule out selective blackouts, that is to say, cutting the power to certain clients for short periods to save the remainder,” he said.

The company began an improvement programme three years ago and Mr Gadonneix said this was expected to exceed eight billion euros this coming year.

He would not exclude future rises in the cost of electricity to the householder.

Photo:L_Avi