Centrica expects bigger hit from EDF Energy power-station outage
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Centrica has said that the negative impact on earnings from a reduction in output at EDF Energy's nuclear power stations is now expected to be at least twice the amount originally estimated.
The UK-listed energy company, which owns a 20% interest in EDF Energy's nuclear operations, had predicted - using EDF Energy's initial estimate of the reduced output - the downtime would result in a 0.3p hit on earning per share (EPS) for the 2014 financial year.
However, the latest estimates for returning the reactors to service and associated costs mean that this guidance has now increased to a 0.6-0.9p negative impact on EPS.
EDF Energy had announced last month that inspections of so-called 'boiler spines' at its Heysham power plants on the north-west coast of England near Lancaster found an unexpected "defect" in one of the eight boiler spines in Heysham 1 Reactor 1.
Boiler spines support the weight of the boiler tubes in each reactor.
While Heysham 1 Reactor 1 returned to service on a reduced load after the inspection earlier this year, it was shut down after an outage in June.
EDF Energy said it took the "conservative decision" to shut down the neighbouring Heysham 1 Reactor 2 and Hartlepool Reactors 1 and 2 to carry out further inspections.
Consensus forecasts for Centrica ahead of the boiler spine findings pointed to EPS of 21.71p in 2014, down from 26.60p in 2013.
BC