Several homes across Britain are staring down a possible blackout in the coming days after France threatened to retaliate against refusal to grant some of its small boats fishing licenses on British waters.
French Europe Minister, Clement Beaune, in a recent announcement threatened to use energy supplies as a way to “put pressure” on Britain to stop politicising the fishing dispute.
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Beaune did not clearly state the form this retaliation would take but said action would be taken against the UK “in the next few days” after admitting that Jersey and Britain are both “dependent” on France.
SurgeZirc UK understands that French state-run EDF Energy is one of the largest producers of electricity in the UK, generating approximately one-fifth of the nation’s electricity from its nuclear power stations, wind farms, coal, and gas power stations.
The firm is said to supply more than five million business and residential customers, making it the biggest supplier of electricity volume-wise in Britain.
For over thirty years, France has also been supplying electricity to the UK through an undersea cable, EDF made its own inroad into the UK energy retail market in 1998 after purchasing London Electricity.
Another undersea connection between Britain and France went online earlier this year.
The £700million IFA2 interconnector between Hampshire and Normandy has been projected to deliver at least 1.2 percent of Britain’s electricity demands.
In May, France had earlier threatened to cut off the power in the island of Jersey due to a lingering fishing row.
Following a claim by France that Britain had violated the Brexit agreement to allow French fishermen continue operating in British waters, Annick Girardin, minister for the sea, stated that the French could send an immediate response by cutting the power supply to the Channel Island after denouncing the agreement.
The standoff in May saw French boats blockade the port of Saint-Helier in Jersey to register its dissatisfaction with the British whom it believes has refused to honour a pact.
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In response, the UK sent two navy patrol ships circling Jersey until the blockade fizzled out.
At the moment, vessels from France are allowed to continue fishing in British waters if they had been doing so pre-Brexit.
But France became incensed after the UK granted only 12 licenses from 47 applications for smaller boats to fish in its territorial waters.
