A top French court will determine next week whether to overturn a government ceiling on EDF's regulated power prices, which could affect the utility's income and stock price.

The course of action follows a complaint by the Anode association of different power generators against Energy Minister Segolene Royal's decision to annul a 5 percent raise in electricity tariffs that had been planned for early August. Royal's statement concerning the price cap on June 19 trimmed $5 billion of market value of France's leading power supplier EDF and a cancellation of the limit could boost up the shares. Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared a few days later that there would be a tariff raise after all in the autumn, but of less than 5 percent. The State Council (Conseil d'Etat) has in the past cancelled government limits on electricity prices. In April, it decided that a July 2012 ceiling on power tariff raises established by the previous government was illicit and asked the government to apply a backdated tariff increase. In January 2013, the court also revoked caps imposed by governments on 2011 and 2012 gas price raises for consumers. Royal's restriction on tariffs is component of a Europe-wide tendency to bound energy price increases since governments aim to boost consumer spending in the face of persistently high unemployment.