2022 marked an important year for E.ON in Romania as the company has passed the EUR 2 billion mark in total investments made in our country since E.ON entered this market. Another key moment was in 2017, when E.ON Romania entered the market of solutions for household customers, transforming the company from a traditional electricity and gas supplier into a provider of innovative, competitive, and reliable energy solutions and products.
Volker Raffel was born in 1973 in Göttingen, Germany. He earned his degrees in physics after studying at Clausthal University of Technology and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and in engineering after studies in Grenoble and Paris.
His professional career began in 1999, joining the energy company PreussenElektra, which later formed E. ON group through a merger.
He was involved in E.ON’s entry into the Romanian energy market starting with 2004 and occupied executive positions within E.ON Moldova until 2008. After holding various executive positions within the E.ON group, he was appointed deputy general director of E.ON Romania starting with May 2021, in order to assume the position of director general in this company from August 1st, 2021.
Mr. Raffel, since entering the market in 2005, E.ON has invested more than EUR 2 billion in Romania. What are the main objectives of these investments, risks and returns expected? What are the most significant company achievements to date?
Volker Raffel: Indeed, this year E.ON has exceeded the threshold of EUR 2 billion invested in Romania since entering the market in 2005. This is a symbolic milestone that demonstrates our long-term orientation in all our activities in Romania. And I would mention another figure that tends to go unnoticed, namely the approximately EUR 2.8 billion in taxes paid to the state budget over the years. Moreover, we support mainly the local economy and thousands of jobs through collaborations with 900 direct suppliers and around 2,300 product and service providers throughout the supply chain.
One of our objectives has been to ensure that our 3.4 million customers benefit from supply and distribution services at European standards. We have invested around EUR 1.5 billion on the distribution side, the majority of which (60-70%) strictly in the modernization of the network components. The other main areas where we have invested are grid extensions as well as digitization, which has led to shorter response times in the event of interruptions.
(continue reading in energyindustryreview.com, January 10, 2023)