Energie AG’s economic goals are:

  • To ensure sustainable financial stability
  • To increase the company value
  • Ongoing profitability for the capital employed, above the minimum rate of return
  • Creating an efficient and competitive corporate and organisational structure
  • To implement innovative business models that are fit for the future
  • To create a working environment that motivates employees to innovate

Positioning ourselves as a reliable and stable partner for equity investors and outside creditors is an important goal of Energie AG, which is being pursued in a consistent and sustained manner. Following the Group’s strategic and structural realignment in the 2013/2014 fiscal year as part of the ”PowerStrategy 2020“, further trend-setting projects were launched in the 2017/2018 fiscal year and in the year under review.

For information about the state of business at the Energie AG Group, see the Group Management Report. The section Net assets, financial position and results of operations addresses business development in the Group.

Wertstatt 8: An innovation hub

Energie AG works at an early stage to identify ideas that have potential for future business models. It was in this context that the Special Innovation Committee (“SoKo Innovation”) was created in 2015; its innovation process is guided by the concepts of design thinking and iterative development of business ideas based on customer needs.

On 1 October 2019, the activities of the Special Innovation Committee (“SoKo Innovation”) were merged into a company dedicated to innovation (Wertstatt 8 GmbH) and have since undergone further development to provide innovative services to customers even faster. One of these services which has already been successfully brought to market is HEINZi – an independent online source for personal advice about heating. At www.heinzi.com, customers can receive support – from decision-making through to implementation with local heating engineers.

“Loominati” improvement platform

Suggestions for improvement are solicited from all Energie AG’s employees on the Loominati platform – from small ideas about how to make savings to all-new business models. The most important asset for this to succeed is an innovative and highly motivated workforce, with staff able to play their part in the ongoing development of the Group by sharing their ideas and expertise.

Due to a variety of initiatives, a 28% increase was achieved this year compared with the 135 ideas received during the previous fiscal year 2017/2018. In total, this translates to 173 suggestions for improvement submitted by employees from all units within the Group this year.

Neuland digitalisation offensive

The Neuland Project Week is one of the actions that have been taken to deliver on the Energie AG digital strategy. This week of project-focused work, held each year, revolves around digital ideas which are submitted and presented by staff from all units within the Group. In a creative setting that gives staff a retreat from their day-to-day work, in a multi-stage selection process, the best project ideas are advanced using agile methods. Support is provided along the way by in-house experts. Events and a series of other opportunities to participate ensure that the entire workforce is on board for Energie AG’s digital journey. Neuland and other activities implemented as part of our digitalisation strategy enabled Energie AG to proactively prepare its business models for the digital future.

New technologies

Energie AG always endeavours to deliver the best achievable benefits to our customers by adopting new technologies. Some prominent examples include the implementation of robotic solutions and artificial intelligence for customer contact purposes, first moves towards the use of VR (virtual reality) for power plant tours and the use of drones to fly over power lines in impassable terrain. In addition, the use of blockchain technology has been explored in a variety of projects (peer-to-peer trading, Gridchain, Enerchain), matching algorithms have been used in the recruitment process and for heating consultations, voice control has been developed to provide energy-saving tips (Alexa skill) and an Internet of Things (IoT) solution has been formulated for water consumption monitoring.

For more information, see the Research, development and innovation section in the Group Management Report.