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Nuke shutdown costs energy giant €1 billion

Published: 6 Mar 12 09:40 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20120306-41165.html

RWE, Germany's second biggest-power supplier, said Tuesday earnings last year were hit by a one-billion-euro ($1.3-billion) charge related to the shutdown of some of its nuclear power plants.

RWE said in a statement its net profit fell by 33.9 percent to €2.479 billion last year and operating profit declined by 24.3 percent to €5.814 billion on a 3.1-percent drop in revenues to €51.686 billion.

"For us, fiscal 2011 was marked by difficult economic and political framework conditions," RWE said. "The German government's nuclear energy decisions alone had a negative impact on the result of well over one billion euros."

In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, last year, the German government decided to phase out nuclear power, forcing energy suppliers to shut down their profitable large-scale power plants and also levying a tax on the reactors' fuel for their remaining lifespan.

In addition, lower sales prices on the gas wholesale market and "persistently low margins in the electricity generating business all had an adverse effect on business performance," the group complained.

Nevertheless, chief executive Juergen Grossmann said RWE had undertaken measures "to get us through the trough quickly."

RWE was "therefore confident of maintaining the level of the previous year in 2012," he said, predicting that the trend would also continue into 2013 when "we still expect to be on a par with the result of 2011 this year, too."

AFP/bk

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

12:45 March 6, 2012 by cheeba
Won't be long before this nuclear shutdown starts slow down the German economy big time, then these naive people finally will understand.
13:16 March 6, 2012 by pjtaipale
But the nuclear shutdown was timed very nicely for the opening of this new gas pipeline that runs from Russia. Which had some prominent politicians hired to work for the company (like Gerhard Schröder).
14:22 March 6, 2012 by derExDeutsche
1 Billion EURO???? Damn Those SPECULATORS! Surely, this added loss won't be passed on to the German Tax payer.
00:52 March 7, 2012 by Illogicbuster
Germany sold itself to Gazprom. FOOLS.
20:04 March 10, 2012 by Englishted
Quiet !!!

I can just about hear the violins in the background and the weeping of those hard up executives.

Still looks like excessive profit for what should be a non profit public service.
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