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Gunter Grittmann
Head of Information and Communication
E-mail: grittmann@zew.de
Phone: +49 (0)621-1235-132
Fax: +49 (0)621-1235-255
Kathrin Böhmer
Public Relations Officer
E-mail: boehmer@zew.de
Phone: +49 (0)621-1235-103
Fax: +49 (0)621-1235-255
Primary energy consumption in Germany will decrease by 21 percent by 2030 as compared to 2007. The main reason for this is a considerable increase in energy productivity found in the 2009 energy prognosis initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWI). The energy prognosis was conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim in collaboration with the Institute of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy (IER) of Stuttgart University and the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), Essen. Demand for electricity will rise until 2030, most notably due to the continuing trend towards single-person households. In order to cover the increasing energy consumption in Germany, more energy will have to be imported. read more
The wave of acquisitions in the German energy industry has subsided. Current examinations by Dr. Patrick Beschorner and Martina Lauk of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim suggest that in the period from the beginning of 2004 to August 2007, only eight public utility services were taken over by major energy suppliers. From the beginning of 1999 until the end of 2003, however, 130 acquisitions of local suppliers by interconnected firms had taken place. According to the ZEW researchers, the decreasing number of acquisitions in the energy sector is largely due to the German Federal Cartel Office's decision in 2003 to prohibit the merger between E.ON AG, one of the two major vertical players, and a public utility service, this was the first ruling of its kind. read more