Goodbye to Stromnetz Berlin

A public tender procedure for the operation of the Berlin grid began at the end of 2011 and was due to be completed by 2014. It was, however, delayed by procedural changes and appeals. In October 2020 Vattenfall offered all shares in Stromnetz Berlin GmbH for sale to the State of Berlin. This brought an end to the years of disputes over the electricity concession and paved a clear, predictable path for the further development of the Berlin electricity grid.

Annika Viklund, Senior Vice President Distribution, says:

“We have been working hard since 2011 to regain the concession, and I think that we put forward a very good offer for how Vattenfall could continue to run Stromnetz Berlin and the Berlin distribution business. Considering the lengthy time of this discussion, we, however, reached the decision to offer the complete takeover of the electricity grid to the City of Berlin, as we believe it is important for such a business to have a long-term perspective in order to have opportunities to invest for many years ahead. I am sure that the colleagues and the management will bring with them the capability to secure this critical infrastructure for Berlin.”

With the company, the State of Berlin gains highly professional employees: around 1,500 at Stromnetz Berlin itself, and a further 112 from Vattenfall's central functions, forming a functional unit and a well-positioned company.

Head of Germany Christian Barthélémy says:

“We look with pride on this solid, well-run company with its highly skilled, committed workforce and its excellent management team. Under the Vattenfall umbrella, you have operated Germany’s largest electricity distribution grid in an excellent way for over twenty years, and have been recognised by the Federal Network Agency as a highly efficient grid operator. We wish you all the very best. And I am already looking forward to many joint projects in the future, because we have a common goal: we want climate neutrality and fossil-free living, and we at Vattenfall will play our part like no one else in achieving the climate goals for Berlin! "

Vattenfall will now concentrate its attention and resources entirely on the other German business areas to fulfill its goal of enabling fossil-free living within one generation.

Stromnetz Berlin is especially active in the field of electricity distribution. It operates the electricity distribution grid in the Berlin urban area, with a total length of some 35,000 kilometres. It makes its grid available to all users in a non-discriminatory manner, and is responsible for the security and reliability of the electricity supply in the capital.