“German power companies: Breaking bad”

When RWE and E.ON both split their their fossil fuel-based and their new energy technology businesses into separate companties, it was evidence that the German Energiewende “has dealt a huge jolt to the business model of what were once two of Europe’s most highly regarded utilities,” writes The Economist. There are “plenty have reservations about the coming [stock market] listings” of RWE’s Innogy and E.ON’s Uniper, according to The Economist. “[E.ON’s] Mr Teyssen prefers to see his company not as a dinosaur fighting extinction, but as a bird—the descendant of a dinosaur—flying into a bright future. Provided, that is, it doesn’t crash into a power pylon,” the magazine writes.

Read the article in English here.

Find background information in the CLEW factsheets E.ON shareholders ratify energy giant's split and RWE’s plans for new renewable subsidiary.