E.ON continues to invest in the energy transition and remains on growth path

E.ON reported positive first-half results in 2023 with both segments, Energy Networks and Customer Solutions, delivering a strong operating performance.

The company’s business performance in the first half of 2023 was positive. Compared with the prior-year period, which was adversely impacted by the energy-industry environment, the adjusted Group EBITDA rose by 40 percent to €5.7 billion.

The adjusted EBITDA at the network business rose by nearly €800 million relative to the prior year to €3.5 billion. This positive performance in the first half of 2023 was helped by investment-driven growth in all regions, especially in Germany.

At the presentation of the company’s results for the first half of 2023 E.ON CEO Leonhard Birnbaum said: “After a long period of crisis, we sense that the headwinds for our business are diminishing. We see our markets increasingly recover. At the same time, the energy transition is becoming more tangible with every passing day, and the demand for our sustainable energy solutions and our infrastructure is increasing. We are therefore in an environment that presents us with a lot of work, but also offers tremendous growth potential.”

Birnbaum continued: “We are not only carrying out our announced investment plans, but also keeping our promises to our customers. The historically high power and gas procurement costs were a big challenge for us last year. Now we see that wholesale markets are calming down again. As announced, this will enable us to again lower prices for millions of power and gas customers.”

The company noted that it had accelerated cross-sectoral decarbonisation efforts are providing a tailwind for further business growth.

Leonhard Birnbaum noted: “E.ON is on a clear growth path. Our growth strategy focusing on digitalization and sustainability puts us right on track. Europe and Germany significantly expanded their growth targets for renewables. For us, this means that by 2030 we’ll have to connect a total of roughly six million new facilities to our networks in Germany alone. This requires a suitable and legally secure investment environment.”

The connection boom in the network business and the increasing demand for green energy solutions are also reflected in the investments the company has planned and made. E.ON had already invested more than €1 billion in energy infrastructure in the first quarter of 2023. The Group further increased its investments in the second quarter resulting in a total of roughly €2.4 billion for the first half of the year. This represents an increase of 36 percent relative to the prior-year period. To be able to achieve its planned growth path for expanding network infrastructure, E.ON also hired about 2,000 new employees, roughly half of them at its network business in Germany. E.ON reaffirmed its planned investments of roughly €5.8 billion for full-year 2023. The Group intends to invest a total of €33 billion in energy infrastructure between 2023 and 2027.