Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier Secures Two Victories for EDF Before the Paris Court of Appeal in Disputes with TotalEnergies and ekWateur Over ARENH Electricity Deliveries During the Covid-19 Crisis

Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier successfully represented EDF in two rulings handed down by the Paris Court of Appeal, in disputes with TotalEnergies and ekWateur concerning the performance of electricity delivery contracts under the ARENH mechanism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following the lockdown measures implemented in March 2020, TotalEnergies and ekWateur invoked a modified force majeure clause included in the framework agreements governing ARENH deliveries, seeking to suspend their contractual obligations. EDF opposed these requests, prompting both alternative suppliers to initiate legal proceedings to hold EDF liable for alleged breaches of contract.

In a judgment dated July 11, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a decision of the Paris Commercial Court that had ordered EDF to pay TotalEnergies €53,928,332 under the disputed force majeure clause. The Court not only dismissed TotalEnergies’ claims but also ordered it to pay EDF €21,543,725 in damages and €100,000 in unrecoverable legal costs. In a second ruling issued the same day, the Court similarly overturned a judgment requiring EDF to pay €1,809,321 to ekWateur. ekWateur was instead ordered to pay EDF €40,000 in unrecoverable costs.

These rulings follow a previous decision by the Paris Court of Appeal in June 2024, which had already ruled in favor of EDF in a comparable dispute with the alternative supplier Hydroption.

In all three cases, the courts found that the alternative suppliers had been able to resell to their end customers more electricity than they had purchased from EDF under the ARENH mechanism. As a result, the economic conditions could not be deemed unreasonable to the extent of preventing the performance of the contracts.

The Darrois team was composed of Henri Savoie, Professor Laurent Aynès, Carine Dupeyron (partners), and Stanislas Saied (associate). EDF was also represented by Cédric de Pouzilhac of Aramis Law.