E.ON AG ( , , ) , based in Düsseldorf, Germany, is an energy corporation, one of the 30 members of the DAX stock index of major German companies. It came into existence through the 2000 merger of VEBA and VIAG, its chief executive officer (Vorstandsvorsitzender) is Wulf H. Bernotat.
E.ON is one of the major public utility companies in Europe and the world’s largest investor-owned energy service provider. It has, for example, acquired Sydkraft in Sweden and Powergen in the United Kingdom. These have now been rebranded to E.ON Sverige and E.ON UK respectively. It was trying to acquire Endesa in Spain at 2006, however this acquisition was overtaken by a joint bid from Italian utility ENEL in conjunction with Spanish company Acciona. However E.ON did get to acquire about €10b of assets that the enlarged ENEL was required to divest under EU competition rulings.
In 2003 E.ON entered to the gas market through the acquisition of Ruhrgas (now E.ON Ruhrgas). E.ON Ruhrgas is represented in more than 20 countries in Europe.
As result of the merger E.ON inherited the subsidiaries of VEBA, VIAG and Ruhrgas in Central and Eastern Europe. It is also present in Russia, where it has a stake in the natural gas company Gazprom (6,4%). E.ON is present in most of Scandinavia.
In the United States, E.ON has renamed LG&E Energy to E.ON U.S., and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
In Britain, E.ON will open a windfarm off the coast of Cornwall in 2008 and has, during Autumn and summer 2007 been running "Wind of Change" adverts on British TV networks; the main advert was filmed in the English seaside town of Broadstairs.
Currently, E.ON is organized in five market units:
