RWE, Germany’s second biggest utility, is expected to declare a net loss of about €3bn for 2013, in the latest sign of the crisis gripping European power producers.
The company will reveal the figure, the first time it has reported a full-year net loss, on Tuesday. An RWE spokeswoman would not comment.
The net loss, first reported in the newspaper Handelsblatt, is attributable to writedowns for the year of €4.8bn, most of which is due to declining earnings from conventional power generation.
Profits of these power generators have been battered by the boom in subsidised renewable energy in Germany, where clean energy has favourable access to the grid. Utilities are also suffering from low wholesale power prices and weak demand because of the eurozone crisis.
RWE’s net income for 2012 was €1.3bn. Its dividend payments will be based on a ratio of its recurrent net income, which was €2.5bn in 2012.
