Electricite de France SA can't make ends meet unless it can raise the price of wholesale nuclear power it sells to rivals, its chief executive officer said.

"One can't demand of a company to sell a quarter of its output below cost over the long term," Henri Proglio told reporters today at a presentation of 2013 results. "No company can survive" on these terms "without compensation."

Proglio's comments indicate a battle over the regulated price, known as Arenh, is intensifying as the utility demands the rate be increased, and competitors and industry want it lowered. Under a system meant to boost competition, EDF has to sell about a quarter of its annual atomic output to competitors.