French energy giant, Électricité de France (EDF) is mulling the sale of its electricity distribution business in the UK in order to cut the mountain of debt it has built up due to the hefty acquisitions made in the US and the UK in the past nine months.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that the EDF's board was considering selling the electricity distribution business managed by EDF Energy UK, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the EDF Group for approximately £5 billion in order to reduce its debt of £22.3 billion.

The EDF board is considering as to whether the company should focus only on its overseas business in power generation since it has already committed to huge investments in the nuclear generation sector both at home as well as abroad.

This hefty debt has been incurred by the company, when it acquired British Energy for $23.18 billion in September (See: EdF to acquire British Energy for $23.2 billion)  and had taken a 49.9 per cent stake worth $4.5 billion in December in a major American nuclear operator, Constellation Energy. (See: EDF Group acquires controlling stake in US nuclear giant Constellation Energy)

Last week, EDF acquired 493 acres of land at Bradwell in Essex, since this site had existing nuclear reactors, which came into its ownership after the acquisition of British Energy. (See: EDF, E.ON and RWE npower acquire sites to build nuclear reactors in UK)

EDF Energy generates around 6 per cent of the UK's electricity and supplies electricity to 7.9 million homes and businesses through its public networks.

It operates three major plants in the UK with a total capacity of 4.8GW and its network covers 29,000 km and distributes 87 TWh of electricity annually, through 48,000 km of overhead wires, 134,000 km of underground cables and 66,300 substations.

France's state-controlled energy giant manages the country's 59 nuclear plants and its sales was €64.3 billion and income of €4.3 billion in 2008.

EDF has committed itself to investing heavily by building at least 10 nuclear reactors both in France as well as in the UK.

Currently, EDF is building a new-generation EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville, northwest France at a cost €4 billion ($5.28 billion). But the cost has overrun from the 2008 estimated cost of €3.3 billion.

In January, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that Penly in France will be next site where EDF will build a second new EPR nuclear reactor and the construction will start in 2011.

Sarkozy is a firm believer that nuclear energy is the best energy and in 2004, when he was the French Interior Minister, had imitated and added to the famous French slogan "We do not have oil, we do not have gas, we do not have coal, but we had ideas".

EDF is also building four EPR nuclear power units, two each at Sizewell and Hinkley Point in the UK, with the first becoming operational by the end of 2017.

It is also planning to take part in another auction in the UK to buy more land for new projects.

The Financial Times said citing a person close to the group "They are having a real internal debate. It is driven by capital constraints because they have bitten off more than they can chew."