OREANDA-NEWS. RWE Polska is expanding its gas business to small and medium enterprises with a new product named “Gas Now”. This product ensures that customers will have a fixed price per MWh of natural gas during the term of the contract. Depending on their needs, customers may decide for shorter or longer terms, with a minimum period of 12 months. The product guarantees lower service fees and lower gas prices than the previous supplier.

“Eastern Europe is a growth region, and the Polish market offers plenty of opportunities. Here as well, we can make use of RWE’s significant experience in the gas business.”, says Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG. In Europe, the Group supplies more than 7 million customers with 281 TWh of natural gas. Terium adds: “This step fits with RWE’s strategy of organic growth. Other examples of such countries are Romania and Croatia. We are already serving 500 business customers after entering the Croatian market in June 2013.” Also in the Czech Republic, where RWE is the No. 1 player in the gas business, we are using the existing supply infrastructure as a platform for becoming a leading provider of electricity.

"This step is in line with RWE’s global retail strategy, part of which aims to provide dual fuel products in the markets, where business rationale and regulatory frameworks allow for this to happen. The recent gas market liberalisation allowed us to implement this strategy in Poland, too.”, explains Filip Thon, President of RWE Polska and Board Member of RWE East and RWE Retail. 2014 was the first year RWE operated in the Polish gas sector. Until now, the company gained over 50 large business customers. Filip Thon adds: “This product was created thanks to our flexibility, financial strength and market knowledge."

Recent years in Poland have been marked by dynamic change of the gas market and its liberalisation in 2011. The amended law separated sales from transmission and distribution of the resource, and thus guaranteed alternative suppliers equal access to gas infrastructure, which has practically enabled customers to select fuel provider.

RWE’s activities in Poland are managed by Prague-based RWE East, which also oversees the company’s activities in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Turkey. The largest RWE companies in Poland are RWE Polska and RWE Stoen Operator. RWE Polska, together with RWE East, is responsible for supporting the development of the Group in Poland, and for selling energy to about 1 million customers. RWE Stoen Operator manages the Warsaw power grid. Furthermore, RWE Group Business Services Polska (RWE GBS Polska) is responsible for the Group’s internal service processes, principally for accounting and finance, and other business processes as well as IT. In Poland, RWE also operates wind farms with total capacity of 197 megawatts (MW). After the construction of the wind park in Opalenica and the development of Nowy Staw plant have been finalized at the end of 2015, the total installed wind capacity of RWE in Poland will amount to over 240 MW.