German energy group E.ON has unveiled its 2015 results. Impairment charges of €8.8bn recorded in the autumn of 2015 primarily on generation assets resulted in a substantial net loss of €7bn. However, the group succeeded in cutting its net debt by €5.7bn to €27.7bn.
In 2015, E.ON's attributable power generating capacity fell by 23%, from 58.9 GW to 45.3 GW (fully consolidated capacity also contracted by 23%, from 60.1 GW to 46.5 GW), due to a dramatic reduction in conventional capacities: gas-fired capacity fell by 6.8 GW due to the sale of operations in Spain and Italy and to the closure of a gas-fired power plant in the United Kingdom. Hard coal-fired capacities also fell by 3.4 GW (scheduled decommissioning
of several units in Germany and sale of generation operations in Italy and Spain), while the decommissioning of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant in Germany and of the second unit of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden cut nuclear capacity by nearly 1.6 GW. In addition, the sale of Italian and Spanish assets reduced E.ON's hydropower capacity by 1.2 GW.
Consequently, E.ON's owned generation fell by nearly 27 TWh (-12%); stable demand in the Russian market and maintenance at two power plants also reduced power generation in Russia (-9% to 54 TWh).
Power sales remained stable at 781 TWh in 2015, including 536 TWh sold on the wholesale market (+2.8%), 88 TWh to sales partners (-11%), 93 TWh (-2.1%) to industrial and commercial (I&C) customers and 64 TWh (-0.8%) to residential customers and SMEs. Overall, the Global Commodities unit procured about 1,976 TWh of gas and traded 2,565 TWh of gas, along with 1,946 TWh of power, 250 Mt of coal and 211 Mt of carbon allowances.
E.ON produced 23.7 mboe of oil and gas (+6%), thanks to an 8% increase in oil and condensate production (to 11.5 mbl) and a 3% hike in gas production to 1.9 bcm. The group's gas sales soared by 47% (+551 TWh) to 1,722 TWh (+78% in wholesale market sales to 1,274 TWh).
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