E.ON CEO seeks to dispel concerns over market dominance after RWE merger deal
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The merger of German energy company E.ON with parts of utility RWE will not make it too dominant on the country’s energy market, E.ON CEO Johannes Teyssen asserted, according to an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. After the planned merger, which recently passed important legal hurdles at EU level, E.ON would have a market share in power retailing of about 20 percent, Teyssen said. Moreover, customers across the country can choose between over 100 different providers, he added. At the same time, the bundling of grid operations by E.ON and RWE could even benefit customers, as this would ultimately lead to lower grid fees due to economies of scale. Teyssen said his company understands that EU competition watchdogs will examine the planned merger very closely and does not expect the final go-ahead before summer.
Competitors of E.ON and RWE as well as German energy lawyers have voiced concerns that the deal will create a new “dominator” on the country’s energy market because it will make E.ON the biggest power retailer by far. Under the deal announced by country’s two largest energy companies in early 2018, RWE would take over E.ON’s renewable energy production assets while E.ON would take RWE’s retail trade.
