Consolidated Financial Statements of the Stadtwerke Leipzig Group ...

mid-year. Thereafter, the price of CO 2 fluctuated
between €12.42 and €15.50 per tonne.
Declining timber supply during the year: The
poor economic situation also made itself felt on
the timber market. Up to mid-2009, plentiful
supplies of wood led to a drop in price of around
15% for industrial timber (measured using the
Federal Statistical Office’s industrial timber index
for the whole of Germany), which can be regarded
as an indicator for the other types of wood.
The described market movements can vary
considerably from region to region. The timber
price stagnated from mid-2009. However, the
demand for wood – especially by the recycling
industry – picked up again towards the end of
the year because of an improved economic situation
and empty warehouses. Towards the end
of 2009, the timber market was characterised by
weak supply combined with strong demand for
material recycling.
Dynamic competition in the electricity and
gas market for private customers: Competition
intensified further in 2009. Since the electricity
market was opened up in 2005, 21% of German
households (2008: 19%) have switched to a different
power supplier. The number of competitors
has risen further since then. In the market
for domestic customers, the average electricityprice
components in 2009 were as follows:
government charges and levies made up approx.
39%, use of system charges 24%, and the combined
cost of energy procurement, distribution
and service 37%. After gas market liberalisation
made competition possible between gas suppliers
in early 2007, 10% of households (2008: 7%)
had already switched to a different natural gas
supplier by the autumn of 2009, according to the
Federal Association of the German Energy and
Water Industries (BDEW). On average, 30% of
the price of natural gas is made up of government
charges and levies; production, transportation,
storage and distribution together account
for 70%.
Influence of the weather – 2009 slightly cooler
than the previous year: Energy consumption by
the domestic customers supplied is greatly influenced
by weather conditions, i.e. heating and
natural gas sales increase when outside temperatures
are cold during the heating season. Overall,
the weather was slightly cooler in the 2009 financial
year than in the previous year. The mean
annual temperature in Leipzig was 10.7°C, i.e.
lower than the previous year’s figure of 11.2°C.
Measured by the number of degree days, which
is the indicator of the need for heating energy,
weather-induced energy consumption was 2.3%
higher than in the previous year.
08 | Annual Financial Statements of Stadtwerke Leipzig GmbH