Unlike its competitor RWE, EnBW probably does not want to do without claiming the gas surcharge. Thomas Kusterer, CFO of the energy group, said this when presenting the half-yearly balance sheet according to SWR on Friday. “We are in a completely different situation,” said Kusterer, referring to RWE. Its CEO Markus Krebber also said on Friday that his company gets comparatively little gas from Russia . EnBW now refers to high replacement procurement costs for missing gas quantities.

In the EnBW thermal generation and trading division, the adjusted result in the first half of 2022 fell by 12 percent compared to the same period last year to around 305 million euros, according to the announcement on the half-year result . The sales division reported a drop in earnings of 49 percent, reflecting the “persistently difficult overall situation”. Overall, the result adjusted for special effects was 1.42 billion euros. This means a decline of 3.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

EnBW only recently announced that it would raise the electricity prices in the basic supply tariff by 31 percent , citing the increased procurement costs as the reason. EnBW had previously reduced electricity prices twice since 2020. The company has around 5.5 million customers.

The SWR reports that the group is waiting for the second stress test on the security of the electricity supply with regard to possible longer operating times for nuclear power plants in Germany . Kusterer therefore confirmed earlier company statements that EnBW could continue with the fuel rods in the Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plant for a few more weeks at most after the end of the year.

Last year, EnBW bought a total of 495 TWh of natural gas, the company said in March of this year. 20 percent of this came from direct supply contracts with Russian suppliers. There are two long-term contracts with Russia, the longest runs until 2030. EnBW did not want to conclude new contracts with Russia, it said.