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EWE is proud of its history as Germany's first multi-utility provider. Starting out as an electricity company in 1930 serving the area between the Ems and Weser rivers, EWE has grown to include activities in water, wastewater and natural gas -- and now it is also a telecommunications operator. The utility mainly services the northwestern part of Germany -- from the North Sea to Osnabrück -- in its traditional electricity business. EWE also signed Germany's first contract to import natural gas.
In the 1960s, EWE began signing contracts with the municipalities, ensuring that natural gas would be cheaper than traditional heating oil and coal. Since then, the company has been able to reach 85 percent of its home market in natural gas -- the highest penetration rate in Germany. Today, EWE has the largest natural gas facilities in the country and operates huge natural gas storage facilities. Although EWE does not actually produce electricity, it holds shares in natural gas fields under and around the North Sea. As former West Germany's oldest established natural gas distributor, EWE decided to take this success into the reunified German market as well as the burgeoning Eastern European market. "We decided to enter the natural gas market in Brandenburg, from Berlin to the Polish border," commented Brinker. "Within 10 years, we had reached a penetration rate of 75 percent. Poland is definitely a huge growth opportunity for EWE. "We crossed the river Oder last year and founded a new company, together with some Polish communities, laying 30 km of high pressure natural gas pipeline, and we will add another 50 km this year," he added. "Poland is currently relying on hard coal, and coal production is set to decline in the next few years by about 20 to 25 percent. The Polish government wants to double the current utilization of natural gas, but they don't have the money for the needed infrastructure. They will enter the European Union in 2004 or 2005, and we want to be there when they do." EWE launched a telecommunications business in 1996, EWE TEL, and the company is already enjoying huge success. The groundwork for EWE TEL started as early as 1972. "We are the first company in Germany without any overhead lines, so the number of service interruptions is far less," said Brinker. "We started laying our fiber-optic cables for telecommunications in 1994. EWE invested a lot in the telecommunications network, laying 20,000 km of fiber-optic and copper cables. Today, we operate the third largest fiber-optic network in Germany -- it's the best and most reliable network in Western Europe." EWE TEL has grown rapidly to achieve Germany's second largest subscriber base for fixed lines. "Based on new figures for the end of 2001," he added, "we have reached approximately 130,000 customers within a space of only five years. With 1 million people in the area that have known EWE since they were children, there is a lot of opportunity still waiting for us." EWE is already looking towards the future -- not only in geographic expansion but also in entering new fields in the energy market. The company opened 10 natural gas filling stations in 2001, and more are planned for the near future. Natural gas as an automotive fuel has been so widely accepted that many customers are asking for more natural gas cars -- a request that EWE has taken to Germany's automakers. The new port of Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany, due to open in 2007, will also expand EWE's role in the region to that of a multi-utility provider for a whole new market, handling the influx of new companies expected to set up in the area. "We will be developing the use of fuel cells over the next four to five years," stated Dr Brinker. When asked about the company's stand on innovation, Brinker simply stated, "That's our primary task, to continually think up new ideas."
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Dr. Werner Brinker is keeping a watchful eye on future innovation.