Austrian Kelag Group, owned by German multinational energy company RWE, signed a letter of intent with electricity distribution Elektro Celje d. d. about a strategic partnership. In the next phase it may enter its trading enterprise Elektro Celje energija (ECE), which controls 23% of Slovenian power market and supplies over 200,000 households. “We are analyzing possible models. Several options are open,” Rade Knežević, Elektro Celje’s departing managing director, told Dnevnik newspaper. Almost 75% of ECE is owned by the company.
RWE has been trying to grow its operations in the electricity distribution market in Slovenia. Through its Croatian subsidiary last year it entered the households segment, and it has been speculated in the media that the German company is preparing to obtain an ownership share in one of state-owned electricity traders, the article said.
Kelag is already present in Slovenia through Interenergo d. o. o., which owns several hydropower plants in the region of former Yugoslavia. The chief executive of the company is Anton Papež, known for close ties with Miro Cerar, prime minister of Slovenia, Dnevnik said. The key lobbyist of Kelag in the country is Benjamin Wakounig, who heads the Slovenian Economic Association (SGZ) in
