Two Fundamental Laws For Energy Pricing

EDF shares fell 20% in a single day last week. A big move for a giant utility, whose majority stockholder is the French state. Why? Start with these facts: 2022 is an election year, and energy prices in Europe have risen rapidly in recent months due to a natural gas shortage possibly engineered by the Russians.

So the French government assured consumers that electricity prices would rise no more than 4% this year. To achieve this aim, it first cut the energy tax to lower prices. Then it told EDF (which primarily produces nuclear power) to raise…