British Gas owner Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA) is said to be mulling a £1 billion investment in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.
Talks, though at an early stage, have been held with owner EDF over the potential injection in recent months, according to The Telegraph.
French state-owned EDF has reportedly been scrambling to raise £5 billion in order to complete the Somerset-based plant, which has faced years of delay and rising costs.
Centrica’s investment would see it take a share in Hinkley Point’s power output, similar to deals the FTSE 100-listed firm already has with EDF, through which it owns 20% of the UK’s nuclear power portfolio.
Such deals have seen Centrica net around £1.5 billion in profits from nuclear power generation since 2022, when energy prices began to surge.
Hinkley Point C had originally been due to open in 2025 after construction began in 2018, but has seen this repeatedly pushed back to within the 2030s.
Costs have built up in the meantime, with EDF warning early last year that up to £35 billion could be spent on building the plant based on 2015 prices, against around £26 billion previously.
The Telegraph reported Centrica had originally just been considering an investment in Suffolk’s Sizewell C, which is set to be based on Hinkley’s design and began being built this year.
Given Sizewell will take years to build yet, an investment in Hinkley Point C would be a “more strategic transaction” for Centrica, a Telegraph-cited source said.