Sister companies team up

It is one of the last winter days in 2004. Germany is freezing. Temperatures drop to minus five degrees centigrade, prompting many families to turn up their heating. Energy consumption reaches record levels. The price of one kilowatt hour increases tremendously at the Electricity Exchange (EEX) in Leipzig. Every provider able to supply additional energy to the tight market place stands to earn a good amount. As does RWE.

Exchange experience

The effective and efficient performance was made possible due to the intensified interaction of RWE Trading and RWE Power within a new concept called Short Term Position Management (STPM). Employees of both units coordinate the short-run activities on a single trading floor, alongside experts from RWE Energy, with whom the two units have a goodworking relationship. Whenever RWE Trading spots rising prices, it passes on the information immediately. Thus, RWE Power can respond by adjusting its power generation
according to the observations made. The Group as a whole is likely to profit economically.

Two men in particular hold a significant stake in driving the co-operation thus far: Dr. Brian Count, CEO of RWE Trading, and Berthold Bonekamp, former CEO of RWE Power, todays CEO of RWE Energy and also Board member of RWE AG. “Due to a number of intensive and professional interactions within the last few months, we have built up trust and respect. The confidence provided enables controversial discussions on the one hand, but on the other hand generates constructive ideas benefiting the entire group”, says Brian Count, former CEO of Innogy. Berthold Bonekamp adds: “To exchange international experience and to bridge the gap between different cultures,we team up to successfully meet the challenges of tomorrow’s European markets.” The new teamwork is shown through STPM, to which RWE Trading brings in its expertise of energy markets.

Maichel to continue co-operation

“Our prop-trading business is the brain of our company. We have extensive knowhow regarding trends and cost structures in the fields of energy, gas, coal and fuel, for example”, says Brian Count, and adds “to cut a long story short: RWE Trading is the voice of the market, to the inside as well as to the outside.”

“And to economically plan new power plants, we need to deeply understand the market developments and market needs. Our sister company helps us to gather that kind of information”, says Berthold Bonekamp, while emphasising that all of RWE Power’s engineers have excellent know-howand do a very good job. “It is a partnership based on trust in the things we do. And trust in the people we are doing it with.”

With their exemplary teamwork, RWE Power and RWE Trading reflect the basic idea of the new model of cooperation within the RWE Group. The key to this strategy is the “new” Group Business Committee. Under the leadership of Harry Roels, the members prepare and make all important decisions with the entire RWE Group in mind, setting priorities and results which are best for the company as a whole. “I’ll continue the successful co-operation with RWE Trading in order to create most value from our present- and future generation assets”, says Dr. Gert Maichel, the new CEO of RWE Power since April 1 2004.

However, “it’s not only that business units work closer together nowadays, but different cultures need to be integrated”, as Brian Count puts it. And his counterpart at RWE Power, Berthold Bonekamp, gives a good example of just that, with a smile on his face: “In Germany, it is inappropriate to address anyone by his or her first name unless you are specifically invited to do so. On the other hand, the English almost never call other people by their last name. Brian and I go the English way”. As Germans and English within RWE Group get to know each other better, cultural differences will be overcome, enabling an even better co-operation.

Three personal opinions on STPM