EnBW CEO Andreas Schell has surprisingly resigned in the dispute over the energy supplier’s future course. The company in Karlsruhe announced that the 54-year-old had resigned from his position effective March 8, 2024. The supervisory board approved the decision in an extraordinary meeting.
Schell only took up the top job at Germany’s third-largest energy supplier in November 2022, in the midst of the energy crisis – with a contract term of three years. Board member Georg Stamatelopoulos, who was previously responsible for sustainability at EnBW, is now moving to the top of the group.
According to the information, the main reason for the change was differences of opinion. There were different opinions between the supervisory board and Schell on crucial questions regarding the strategic development of the company. The EnBW supervisory board chairman Lutz Feldmann said: “Despite intensive discussions, no agreement could be reached in the past few months (…).” We regret the step, which took place by mutual consent.
Speed in the strategy search and the topic of sustainability
Under Schell’s predecessor Frank Mastiaux, EnBW initiated the nuclear phase-out, implemented it consistently and invested heavily in renewable energies. Nevertheless, coal and gas continue to play a major role. This was made clear once again by the energy crisis resulting from Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine. Nevertheless, EnBW announced around a year ago that it wanted to phase out coal as early as 2028.
Schell continued Mastiaux’s course – but also emphasized that the political framework conditions had to be right for this to happen. This applies, for example, to the federal government’s power plant strategy, which has been a long time coming; the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ initial plans for this also fall short in EnBW’s view. At the beginning of the month, EnBW brought Regina Wilde in as the new head of strategy. Schell’s departure followed a week later.
EnBW has been largely owned by the public sector since 2011. The state of Baden-Württemberg and the OEW association of nine Upper Swabian districts each hold almost 47 percent of the group. The positions and demands on the supervisory board, which includes district administrators, trade unionists and industry representatives, are correspondingly complex.
Chairman of the supervisory board convinced by the new CEO
The new CEO Stamatelopoulos has known the market and EnBW for years. He has been responsible for the “Sustainable Generation Infrastructure” department on the Board of Directors since June 2021 and has been involved with the issue in the group for much longer: “Georg Stamatelopoulos has been extremely successful in driving forward the restructuring of generation in various positions at EnBW over the past almost 15 years,” Feldmann is quoted in the statement.
EnBW has around 5.5 million customers. Business has been going well recently: in 2022, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were 3.29 billion euros – 11 percent more than in the previous year. According to the latest forecast, the group expects an increase of up to 6.5 billion euros for the past financial year. The balance sheet for 2023 is due to be presented at the end of March. The supervisory board also appointed long-time EnBW CFO Thomas Kusterer as deputy chairman of the board – initially until the end of March 2029.
