The requirements of the new Energy Industry Act (EnWG), which came into force on 13 July 2005, are strict: it requires energy supply companies to strictly separate grid operations from other areas of the company such as energy generation and sales. Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG) has implemented this so-called unbundling and founded an independent grid company: Mittelhessen Netz GmbH. This wholly-owned subsidiary took over the operation of the electricity and gas grids from SWG on 1 January 2006.
SWG wants to be able to grow further
SWG decided in favour of the most stringent form of unbundling, namely the establishment of an independent grid company. The company would not actually be obliged to do this at present due to its number of customers: This is because the current limit is 100,000 customers each in the electricity and gas divisions. However, it is to be feared that this limit will soon be lowered and smaller companies will then also have to establish a grid company in any case.
In addition, SWG is already close to this limit, at least for electricity, with around 95,000 meters. Acquiring new customers could therefore become a problem. Manfred Siekmann, CEO of SWG: "We want to keep our options open in the future to gain new market shares or grow through new investments. In this way, we can continue to consistently pursue our strategy of growing and not giving way. We already took a step in this direction in mid-2005 with the purchase of the Hammermühle power plant."
Thirteen SWG employees move to MIT.N GmbH
Managing Director of Mittelhessen Netz GmbH is graduate engineer Frank Hoffmann, who has been responsible for SWG's electricity grid as head of department since April 1995. In addition to him, a further twelve employees have transferred from SWG to the new subsidiary. However, the majority of the employees working in the electricity and gas sector will remain with SWG and will work as contractors for Mittelhessen Netz GmbH. The grids will also remain the property of Stadtwerke Gießen AG under a lease model.
Nothing will change for customers
Customers of Stadtwerke Gießen AG will not notice much about the establishment of the new subsidiary. All existing contacts will remain available at the usual telephone number.