ČEZ chief: Czech tender damages could reach hundreds of millions of crowns, depending on delay

Financial losses caused by the postponement of the final agreement for Dukovany could reach hundreds of millions of crowns if the delay lasts several months. The amount will depend on the exact length of the tender delay. ČEZ chief Daniel Beneš told journalists today. He believes the court will ultimately uphold the tender. The company intends to seek compensation from French company EDF. Commenting on the bidders’ offers, Beneš also said that EDF’s bid in the tender was not advantageous and that the Czech side could never have signed it.

On Tuesday, the Regional Court in Brno issued a preliminary injunction blocking the signing of the final agreement for Dukovany, which had been planned for today. It acted on a motion by EDF, which challenged a decision by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). The Office had found the tender to be in order. The court’s Tuesday injunction therefore delays the signing of the agreement. The court has not yet ruled on EDF’s lawsuit. EDU II, the company responsible for the nuclear tender, will file a cassation complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court.

According to Beneš, it is too early to put a more precise figure on the losses; this will depend on how long the signing of the final contracts is delayed. “If the delay were several months, the losses would run into hundreds of millions of crowns. We will do everything we can to keep the delay as short as possible,” the ČEZ chief said.

He remains convinced that the tender was conducted correctly and does not believe the court could cancel the entire tender. At the same time, however, he expects EDF to use every means available to complicate the tender.

Beneš also criticised some of the French company’s statements about the tender, which described the selected bid from KHNP as unrealistic and predatory. According to Beneš, the Czech side could never have signed the bid EDF submitted for the Dukovany tender.

The government decided last July to build two new nuclear reactors. It chose the bid from South Korea’s KHNP over that of France’s EDF. Another bidder, Westinghouse, had already been excluded from the competition.

The construction of new nuclear units in Czechia is set to be the country’s largest-ever contract. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred plan to build two reactors at Dukovany is 407 billion crowns. The first unit at Dukovany is expected to be completed in 2036.