German power providers guilty of corruption?

As if you needed another reason not to trust public utility companies, the advocacy group BDEW now claims that Germany is on the brink of a major tax fraud scandal.

Not that Germany’s energy sector isn’t used to scandals by now. Less than four years ago, they were victimized by a number of scams involving carbon emissions trading! 

Over the last two months, tax regulators from Baden-Wuerttemberg all the way to Hamburg have come forward with proof of “value-added-tax scams in energy trading.” More than 1,800 of the countries energy providers will take turns under the microscope as officials scrutinize and search for corrupt activity.

But will those found guilty be punished? Or, like the American bankers on Wall Street, will these energy moguls escape with little more than a slap on the wrist?

“It is hard to take action against fraud,” said Hildegard Mueller, director of BDEW, a Berlin utility group whose members include EON SE and RWE AG (RWE), Germany’s largest energy companies. “If someone acts with criminal intentions, it might be discovered too late.” BDEW’s members account for 90% of Germany’s energy sector. That’s a lot of ‘power’ in the hands of a few.

In 2009, fraud in the carbon emissions market cost Europe approximately €5 billion, or $6.54 billion. Since then, the region has been on high-alert. Not high enough, it seems.

There are a number of measures companies can take to protect themselves against corruption. Internal investigations. Background screenings. A system of checks and balances. And if a deal seems too good to be true – it probably is, says Mueller.

Last week, European finance ministers passed legislation to combat fraud. Yet as more laws and regulations are put in place, and the security wall grows higher, it simply affords those with a criminal agenda more opportunities to find the wall’s weak spot, and exploit it.

Some new procedures do appear to be working though. REW recently discovered 35 accounts of suspicious emissions trades dating back to 2009 and 2010. The company is “continuously checking and evaluating counterparties and working together with the authorities,” said spokesperson Michael Murphy.

The German energy sector was liberalized in 1998, giving foreign producers access to their grid and customer base for the very first time. Unfortunately, this has also opened them up to corruption.  

Last year, Germany’s energy trade accounted for roughly 45% of the European market. “It is important to have a liquid market. It means one can choose from a large number of trading parties,” said Mueller. “And in that respect, Germany is a role model.”

Here’s hoping that those who try to cheat the system are brought to justice before they drag the market down with them!

[ Ana Shell NRGLab, Ana Shell Singapore, NRGLab Pte Ltd, NRGLab auction, nrglab company, NRGLab Сингапур, NRGlab, corruption, world economy, BDEW, Hildegard Mueller, EON SE, RWE AG, Michael Murphy ]

The United Nations gathers to discuss dismal state of environment, energy, & world economy

This month, environmental experts assembled at the United Nations to debate and discuss the effects of climate change, sustainable energy development, and strategies for stimulating the global economy.

According to General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, “the fundamental challenge of our time is [ending] extreme poverty in this generation and significantly narrowing the global gap between rich and poor without ruing the environmental basis for our survival.”

The ‘meeting of the minds’ included UN officials, a number of European energy Ministers, as well as the likes of Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Colombia University’s Earth Institute.

“We need to embrace the path to sustainability,” says Jeremic. “[And craft] a new global partnership in which no nation is left behind, and no country opts out.”

Still refuse to believe that mankind has played a role in climate change? Well, did you know that the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is above 400 parts per million for the first time in over THREE MILLION YEARS!?

In order to combat the cataclysmic fate that awaits, Jeremic claims we need to “de-couple economic growth from our dependence on carbon-based energy systems, which currently provide 80 percent of our primary power needs. We need more energy, not less, to end poverty and raise global living standards. But that power must be low carbon, if we are to remain within planetary boundaries. New technologies are required in order to remake the energy delivery systems so that by mid-century, they produce perhaps three times today’s output, but with less than half of the emissions.”

At last year’s UN assembly on Sustainable Development, a handful of countries pledged to enact social, economic, and environmental change through revamped legislation. While carbon capping has proved mildly successful, other measures have yet to be impactful.

“We have the tools to save the planet from human-induced environmental devastation,” says Jeremic. “What we lack, however, is a fundamental commitment to use them in coherent ways, as well as a full appreciation of how little time we have left before it gets too late.”

NRGLab is committed to providing people with a means of affordable, clean electricity. It’s called the SH-Box. The carbon-free generator produces electricity for as little as $0.03 per kW and weighs less than your typical microwave. By giving people a responsible energy alternative to fossil fuels, we can begin to address the damage we’ve already done to the planet.  Nothing is set in stone. The future is what we collectively make of it. Help NRGLab reshape the world’s energy infrastructure by visiting www.nrglab.asia.

Truly Yours,Ana