E.ON announces weakened profits

Big Six energy firm E.ON has said its retail business profits are down 7.6% from the previous year. The power company, which supplies electricity and gas to 4.8 million homes […]

Big Six energy firm E.ON has said its retail business profits are down 7.6% from the previous year. The power company, which supplies electricity and gas to 4.8 million homes reported profits of £304 million in the UK. The lower earnings came despite E.ON hiking its electricity bills by 11.4% and gas prices by 18.1% in September of last year.

Dr. Tony Cocker, CEO of E.ON UK said the cost of energy was dominating bills: “In a typical E.ON bill last year around 50% was the cost of energy itself, about 25% covered the cost of transporting and metering the energy, operational running costs made up about 13%, while 5% was dedicated to helping the elderly and vulnerable and producing greener and more sustainable energy, 2% was profit and VAT made up the final 5%.”

E.ON’s international earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of €9.3 billion was 30% less than last year’s figure. The company say the shutdown of nuclear power in Germany has had a “€2.5 billion adverse effect.”

However, the firm remains optimistic as its Renewables unit grew its EBITDA by 21% to around €1.5 billion, which it attributes to an increase in installed wind and solar capacity. Earnings in Russia also improved by nearly 50%.

E.ON plans to invest €7 billion in renewables over the next five years, of which just over €2 billion will go towards new offshore wind farms in Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

Latest Podcast