GDF Suez urges clearer EU govt rules on energy

PARIS Feb 1 (Reuters) - French utility GDF Suez said on Wednesday a lack of clarity in energy market regulation is hampering investment and urged European governments to end the uncertainty.

GDF Suez, which is 36 percent state-owned, has been affected by government decisions such as the freezing of gas tariffs and a reduction in solar power subsidies, while it faces a higher nuclear tax in Belgium.

"The instability of regulation ... has led a number of players to stop investments," GDF Suez Vice-Chairman Jean-Francois Cirelli said at a presentation of the group's new Energy Europe division, which he will head.

"Today the sector suffers enormously from this unstable regulation," he said, adding that many billions of euros were not being invested at a time when they could help prop up Europe's ailing economies.

GDF Suez has estimated that a gas tariff freeze by the French government, facing elections this spring, could shave roughly 400 million euros ($524 million) off its core earnings for 2011.

Since Jan. 1, those prices have increased 4.4 percent after France's highest court in November suspended the government's move.

In Belgium, GDF Suez is reassessing its nuclear strategy now that the government wants it to pay a nuclear tax of 550 million euros in 2012, more than double the previous amount.

GDF Suez owns Belgium's nuclear power plant operator, Electrabel. Belgium has seven nuclear reactors at two plants.

GDF Suez will present its 2011 earnings on Feb. 9, a day after British electricity producer International Power and French water and waste group Suez Environnement, in which GDF holds majority and minority stakes respectively.

The group's Energy Europe division was created following the takeover of International Power, which has given GDF Suez increased access to fast-growing developing countries and a foothold in Britain and Australia.