United Kingdom: British Energy announced that it was facing extra costs of £25-30 million as a consequence of shutdowns at its Sizewell B and Heysham 1 nuclear power plants, caused by the discovery of faults in cooling systems.
Because of the shutdown of the two plants, which were expected to remain closed for at least two weeks, British Energy has to buy electricity from the wholesale power market. The company said that higher wholesale prices were placing a strain that was greater than had been anticipated on its cash resources. British Energy had sold forward at £17.15/MWh, and was now having to buy power at prices approaching £30/MWh. British Energy said that, excluding money reserved for interest payments, it had deposited £338 million of its £375 million cash balance as collateral for its deals in the open power market. It had also drawn on £106 million of a £210 million government loan facility granted to assist in the company’s restructuring. The company expects to repay the loan through the £170 million it will receive from the sale of its 50% stake in Amergen to Exelon.