Development in the year under review
- Declining sales volumes for stationary energies (industrial customer business), traction current and diesel as well as strikes by the GDL are impacting revenue development.
- Operating profit burdened by lower contribution margins in traction current. Lower prices for energy purchases as a result of a good supply situation on the procurement markets had an offsetting effect.
- Supply reliability stable at very high level.
| DB Energy | 2024 | 2023 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | % | |||
| Supply reliability 1) (%) | 99.99 1) | 99.99 1) | – | – |
| Customer satisfaction (grade) | 2.0 | 2.1 | –0.1 | – |
| Customer satisfaction, traction current and diesel (grade) | 2.0 | 2.3 | –0.3 | – |
| Customer satisfaction, electricity and gas plus (intra-Group customers) (grade) | 2.1 | 2.1 | – | – |
| Traction current 16.7 Hz and direct current (GWh) | 7,172 | 7,262 | –90 | –1.2 |
| Traction current pass-through (16.7 Hz) (GWh) | 3,028 | 2,695 | +333 | +12.4 |
| Stationary energies (50 Hz and 16.7 Hz) (GWh) | 6,840 | 8,590 | –1,750 | –20.4 |
| Diesel fuel (million l) | 348.4 | 365.4 | –17.0 | –4.7 |
| Total revenues (€ million) | 3,457 | 3,970 | –513 | –12.9 |
| External revenues (€ million) | 1,492 | 1,952 | –460 | –23.6 |
| EBITDA adjusted (€ million) | 141 | 242 | –101 | –41.7 |
| EBIT adjusted (€ million) | 65 | 163 | –98 | –60.1 |
| Gross capital expenditures (€ million) | 377 | 329 | +48 | +14.6 |
| DB-financed net capital expenditures (€ million) | 130 | 88 | +42 | +47.7 |
| Employees as of Dec 31 (FTE) | 2,149 | 2,055 | +94 | +4.6 |
| Employees annual average (FTE) | 2,127 | 1,984 | +143 | +7.2 |
| Employee satisfaction (SI) | 3.9 | – | – | – |
| Share of women as of Dec 31 (%) | 16.8 | 15.5 | +1.3 | – |
| Share of renewable energies in the DB traction current mix 2) (%) | 69.8 | 68.0 | +1.8 | – |
1) Preliminary figure (not rounded).
2) The data for 2024 constitutes a forecast as of February 2025. The data for 2023 corresponds to the status of the statutory electricity labeling pursuant to the German Energy Industry Act (November 2024) and may, therefore, vary from the preliminary disclosures in the 2023 Integrated Report. Since 2023, the proportion of renewable energy has been presented separately without Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz; EEG) subsidies.
The very high level of supply reliability of almost 100% was maintained.
DB Energy once again achieved good customer satisfaction ratings. There was a significant increase in satisfaction, particularly in the areas of traction current and diesel. Both intra-Group and non-Group customers are contributing to this positive development.
Development was uneven in volume terms:
- Traction current: Sales declined, largely due to lower demand from intra-Group customers in rail freight transport. In addition, the GDL strikes in the first quarter of 2024 had a negative impact. Demand from non-Group customers increased and had a partially offsetting effect.
- Traction current pass-through for non-Group customers: The significant increase largely reflects growth in traffic volume and a shift from traction current.
- Stationary energies: Significant decline, driven by portfolio adjustments in the industrial customer business, which was almost completely discontinued at the end of 2024.
- Diesel fuel: The decline in demand was largely due to the development of intra-Group customers in rail freight transport and non-Group customers.
Economic development was weaker, but still positive. Lower income was only partially compensated by lower expenses, resulting in a significant fall in operating profit figures.
Income declined noticeably, largely due to volumes.
- Revenues (–12.9%/€ –513 million): The revenue development was performance-related, primarily due to declining volumes in the supply of stationary energies to non-Group customers. Furthermore, lower revenues from the provision of CO₂-certificates also reduced income. Increases in the traction current pass-through and higher trading revenues had a partial offsetting effect. Price declines were overshadowed by the abolition of the electricity price brake.
- Other operating income (–82.4%/€ –333 million): The very sharp decline resulted, in particular, from the omission of refunds as part of the electricity price brake. These were passed on in full to customers in 2023 through sales price reductions. Higher income from the reversal of accrued liabilities had a partially offsetting effect.
On the expenses side, there was a volume and price-related decline, particularly in cost of materials:
- Cost of materials (–20.4%/€ –787 million): Lower sales volumes for stationary energies and declining energy procurement prices for traction current had a reducing impact on expenses. Price- and volume-related declines in the purchase of diesel fuel intensified the effect. The expenses for the provision of CO₂ certificates also fell.
- Depreciation (–3.8%/€ –3 million): slight decrease due to the elimination of extraordinary depreciation.
The increase in personnel expenses and other operating expenses had an opposite effect.
- Other operating expenses (+24.1%/€ +35 million): The increase was largely caused by intra-Group expense items and higher expenses for IT projects. Cost reduction in consulting services had a partially offsetting effect.
- Personnel expenses (+7.8%/€ +13 million): The additional expenses resulted from the increase in the number of employees and pay scale effects.
Gross capital expenditures in the traction current infrastructure increased and are aimed, in particular, at further improving quality, strengthening the resilience of the energy supply and further expanding the share of renewable energies. The investment grants increased less strongly than the DB-financed net capital expenditures.
The number of employees has increased in view of implementing the higher volume of capital expenditures in infrastructure, meeting legal and regulatory requirements as well as IT and operational technology (OT) security measures.
The share of women has increased significantly compared to the end of the previous year.
The share of renewable energies in the DB traction current mix in Germany has continued to increase.