At the presentation of the results over the first half of 2013, Eneco expressed the expectation that, under normal circumstances, its full year results would be at the same level as the 2012 results or higher.
The company says that it has fulfilled this expectation; revenue was almost unchanged and net profit was up (+3%). This result enables Eneco to continue with the realisation of its mission ‘sustainable energy for everyone’. In the past year, the company invested the unsurpassed amount of € 854 million in enhancing the sustainability of the energy supply and the quality of networks.
In its outlook for 2014, the company says: “ External factors such as lower regulated transmission tariffs and the continuing negative spark spread will affect the financial results for 2014. Although we will persevere with our sustainability strategy and strict cost controls, we do not believe it will be easy to maintain the net profit for 2014 at the same level as in 2013.”
Jeroen de Haas, CEO Eneco Group commented the results: “ The energy sector is going through a large-scale transition, from fossil to renewable and from central to local generation of energy. Being an integrated energy company, Eneco started to focus on sustainability at an early stage. This puts us in a good position to reap the fruits of the developments in this sector. This is not only reflected in our positive results, but also in our ability to continue to make substantial investments in improving sustainability.
The result of our investments in 2013 and previous years is that we are able to generate more and more energy in a manner that is entirely sustainable. In the past year, the volume of wind energy in our sustainable energy portfolio increased from 1039MW to 1276MW, solar energy increased from 18 to 52MW and bio-energy from 67MW to134MW. This means that we can offer our customers an increasing number of sustainable propositions.
Other issues in 2013 included the negotiations for the Dutch National Energy Agreement. The final agreement offers us the security that we need to continue our sustainability strategy. In October 2013, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Act relating to forced unbundling of energy companies (Independent Network Management Act, WON) is in breach with European regulations on free movement of capital and can only be justified under certain conditions. A Dutch court must now assess if this Act was the only possible alternative and if forced unbundling is the only way in which the Government can achieve its objectives pursued. Although the ruling of the Court of Justice was not a final decision, we regard subsequent procedures with confidence.”
Press release, March 6, 2014; Image: Eneco