The company has hedged itself against price fluctuations on the energy markets.
Dusseldorf The listed Mannheim energy company MVV Energie has reason to celebrate these days: On Tuesday, the utility presented the best result in its company’s history. Sales climbed by 18 percent to 4.1 billion euros in the past fiscal year. The operating result (adjusted EBIT) rose by almost 20 percent to 278 million euros.
For the new financial year, the dividend should therefore increase by ten cents to EUR 1.05 per share. In this regard, CEO Georg Müller even wants to significantly exceed the result.
MVV Energie presents the good figures in a turbulent time for the energy industry. The corona pandemic is disrupting supply chains around the world and is preventing numerous companies from producing, including MVV customers.
At the same time, energy prices are extremely high. The European gas price for delivery in a month rose again on Tuesday to its record level from mid-October. And the price for electricity in Germany for delivery in the coming year was recently six times as high as in 2020.
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For MVV Energie, the high prices also lead to higher sales. When presenting the annual figures, Ralf Klöpfer emphasized that the company had secured itself against price fluctuations on the energy markets. This means that MVV Energie can not only continue to reliably supply its own customers – the company is now also adding numerous customers from energy suppliers who have not planned with much foresight.
The low-cost provider Gas.de only stopped supplying gas last week. The affected customers automatically fall back on a contract with a basic supplier who ensures the gas supply. MVV Energie is such a basic supplier. Cases like this have brought the company a four-digit number of new customers, says CEO Müller.
Great demand for in-house solar production
However, due to the increased energy costs, new customers have to pay a higher price to MVV Energie than existing customers. But one does not take advantage of the situation to increase the prices for gas and electricity, justifies Müller. If there were no two different tariffs, the higher costs would have to be passed on to all customers. “There are customers who, in certain market phases, have gone to providers who may have had open positions,” says Müller. “Our existing customers would now pay the price for these consequences if we didn’t offer a second tariff.”
In the area of renewable energies, too, the high electricity prices are driving MVV Energie’s business. Because the company not only sells customers electricity and gas contracts, but also installs their own solar systems on their roofs if necessary – a segment that is growing.
“We are already noticing an increasing demand,” said Sales Director Klöpfer. For many companies, in-house photovoltaic production is cheaper than electricity from the socket. “This is about savings of over 30 percent in the medium-sized sector with larger systems. Even if the sun doesn’t always shine, companies have stable and predictable production costs, ”says Klöpfer.
In the coming years, MVV Energie intends to dedicate itself even more than before to the topic of the energy transition. The company has achieved its previous goal of saving one million tonnes of net CO2 emissions per year five years earlier than originally planned. From 2040 it even wants to be climate positive.
More: The renewable energy industry wants to completely rebuild the electricity market
