Following privatization, decades of under-investment, and the 2021–2022 global energy crisis, the French government announced the full renationalisation of the company for an estimated cost of €5 billion, which it completed on 8 June 2023.

The company's operations include the following: electricity generation and distribution; power plant design, construction and dismantling; energy trading; and transport.

[15] The electricity network in France is composed of the following: The EDF head office is located along Avenue de Wagram in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

[18] EDF was founded on 8 April 1946, as a result of the nationalisation of around 1,700 smaller energy producers, transporters and distributors by the Minister of Industrial Production Marcel Paul.

The French government partially floated shares of the company on the Paris Stock Exchange in November 2005,[24] although it retained almost 85% ownership as of the end of 2008.

[26] Between 2001 and 2003, EDF was forced to reduce its equity capital by €6.4 billion total because of the performance of subsidiaries in South America and Europe.

[29] In March 2016 EDF's Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Piquemal, who had argued that the final investment decision on building Hinkley Point C nuclear power station should be delayed for three years, resigned.

[35] In February 2024, EDF took a €12.9 billion impairment charge on cost overruns building the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

[38] In September 2015 EDF's chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy stated that the design of a "New Model" EPR was being worked on, which will be easier to build, to be ready for orders from about 2020.

Two employees of the security firm, Kargus, run by a former member of France's secret services, received sentences of three and two years respectively.

[46] In February 2013 EDF Energy sought an estimated £5 million in damages from environmental activists from the No Dash for Gas campaign that occupied the EDF-owned West Burton CCGT power station in October 2012.

In October 2019 French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire released an audit report on the construction of the heavily delayed and nearly four times over-budget Flamanville 3 EPR development, started by Areva in 2007.

The Finance Minister demanded EDF present within a month an action plan for the project, calling it a "failure for the entire French nuclear industry".

[51] In April 2020 EDF estimated the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic could potentially reduce electricity consumption in France by 20%.

[54] In October 2021, stress corrosion cracking in stainless steel safety system piping was discovered, eventually requiring rolling fleet-wide shutdowns for inspections and repair during 2022 and 2023.

To meet demand, EDF had to buy electricity on the European market at high prices, costing an estimated €29 billion to June 2023.

[55] In late May 2022, when 12 nuclear reactors were offline, EDF increased the estimated earnings reductions for the inspections and repairs to €18.5 billion.

[56][57] EDF had to sell a further 20 TWh of power to other domestic suppliers at a reduced price due to the government response to the 2021 global energy crisis.

[64] In March 2023, EDF created the Nuward subsidiary to design and manufacture a small modular reactor, for construction from 2030.

[71] In 2018 EDF had plans to invest up to €25 billion in photovoltaics solar power generation, and introduce green electricity tariffs.

[75] Several departments are not, therefore, served entirely or partly by EDF, for instance: Enedis was one of the first companies to carry out preventive maintenance on these wooden poles, with the aim of safeguarding the safety of its personnel, in particular with the Polux tool, which has become its reference standard.