EDF Of France Buys British Energy For $23.15 Billion

September 24, 2008 12:35 p.m. EST

London, England (AHN) - EDF of France announced Tuesday its purchase of British Energy for $23.15 billion. The move, however, has alarmed Britons concerned that their electric bills would go up.

With the buy-in, EDF would be responsible for generating 25 percent of U.K.'s domestic electrical requirements, up from the current 6 percent. The takeover will not make EDF a monopoly, but a market leader, according to EDF.

The buy-in, though, requires approval by the EU for competition clearance.

The purchase by EDF of British Energy is being opposed by Alex Lambie, head of Welsh Power. Lambie wrote to U.K. Energy Minister Malcolm Wickes to ask for a delay for approval of the deal until an ongoing probe by the Competition Commission in the energy sector is finished.

Adam Scorer, campaigns director of Energywatch, added, quoted by Guardian Unlimited, "Our concerns are not about foreign ownership or the rights and wrongs of nuclear power, they are around putting more power into the hands of the big six energy groups."

EDF plans to construct four new atomic plants in Britain, two at Sizewell, Suffolk and two at Hinkley Point, Somerset. The French government owns 85 percent of EDF.