The E.ON 2.0 program which began in August 2011 is progressing quickly. The first phase has now been completed; it focused primarily on defining concrete goals and identifying levers to achieve the targeted cost reductions. The findings of the first phase show that the program will enable E.ON to achieve its target to reduce control-lable costs to EUR 9.5 billion by 2015. The current status of the preliminary considerations indicates that the number of workplaces to be reduced will be at the upper end of the 9,000 to 11,000 range that was stated. In the second phase, which is starting now, the focus is on further developing concrete measures and beginning their implementation. The second phase will be conducted in the form of individual pro-jects, identified in phase 1, and driven by project leaders (already appointed) and their teams working throughout the Group as a whole.

Today, E.ON has informed its employees about the status of the preliminary studies and of the changes affecting the German locations. E.ON plans to gather the Group’s steering functions in the Düsseldorf/Essen area and to integrate the global gas and trading businesses. Hanover will be retained as the head office of the generation business. Support functions such as Finance, Human Resources, and Accounting are to be transferred into shared service units.

Business in Germany is to be led from Essen

In the future, the management for the German market is to be steered by a new unit, under the responsibility of E.ON AG. This new steering unit will be named E.ON Germany. It will be located in Essen in order to shorten coordination paths and avoid duplicated work. The locations of other units that were previously located in Munich will be the subject of further review in the framework of E.ON 2.0. Following the implementation of all the currently recommended measures, around 1,000 to 1,500 office workplaces will remain in Munich. The presence of E.ON Germany will ensure Essen remains an important E.ON location that performs a broad range of tasks for various business areas in the Group. This would be underscored by the proposed presence of E.ON Energy Sales and E.ON Inhouse Consulting in Essen. A relocation of E.ON Climate & Renewables to Essen is subject of further review in the framework of E.ON 2.0 and will be decided upon as soon as possible.

According to the current status of the preliminary considerations, more than around 1,500-2,100 employees would work for E.ON in Essen in the future – nearly as many as today.

Bundling of trading activities in Düsseldorf

According to the current preliminary considerations the trading activities of E.ON Ruhrgas will be integrated with those of E.ON Energy Trading in Düsseldorf. The new unit would combine the available competence in trading with the Group’s strengths in gas supply and could develop into Europe’s leading commodity-based trading company.

Further activities of E.ON Ruhrgas such as, exploration and production or technology and sales, as well as parts of E.ON Energy Trading are to be assigned to other units in the Group. Activities and functions remaining at E.ON Ruhrgas thereafter would than then be reorganized or sold.

Between 1,300 and 1,700 employees would then be based at the Düsseldorf location. This number includes the reductions to the Group Management, which, as announced, is to become leaner and will remain in Düsseldorf.

Integration of the generation-related functions in Hanover

Structural adjustments in generation in Hanover are intended to result in simpler steering and reporting structures. At the same time, E.ON is striving to make the fleet management leaner in the areas Finance, Controlling, and in regional management of the generation assets.

According to the current status of the preliminary studies, the functions performed by the unit “Erzeugung Deutschland” (unit for generation in Germany), which has also been based in Hanover, will be divided. Generation-related functions such as, fuel handling, environmental protection, and controlling of individual power plants will become part of the steering of the power plant fleet. Further tasks of the current unit for generation in Germany are to be continued as support functions. Functions that have more of a steering character such as Project Development are to be moved into E.ON Germany at the Essen location.

In a first step, the administration of the global unit generation would be reduced by a total of around 260 workplaces. The extent of possible further reductions will be determined in the framework of the Group-wide preliminary considerations for the support functions.

With the head offices of the global unit Generation and E.ON IT, Hanover would in any case remain a location with central tasks for the E.ON Group.

Support functions are to be re-organized

In all units, work is being performed that supports business operations but is not business specific and does not have a steering function. The Board wants to see all these functions bundled Group-wide. Many tasks and areas, such as, for example, Procurement, IT, and Inhouse Consulting, have already been defined as support functions in the Group. Now further support functions are also being identified in areas such as Finance, Human Resources, Facility Management, Accounting and Legal which are to be re-organized in the same way. E.ON expects the results of these preliminary considerations in spring 2012. However, it is foreseeable that 30 to 40 percent of the workplaces will be reduced.

This can be achieved by consolidating support functions and providing services across individual Group units. Such a bundling of similar tasks should make know-how and high quality standards equally accessible to multiple Group companies simultaneously.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by E.ON Group management and other information currently available to E.ON. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. E.ON AG does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.