The bleeding continues. Going from 2.8 million in 2012 to 2,6 million in 2013, Electrabel has lost 200,000 electricity contracts. The situation is similar for gas contracts for which figures go from 1.5 million in 2012 to 1,3 million in 2013.
This drop affects the B2C but also the B2B market. The industrial segment with high gas consumption is the only one that increased during the last 12 months.
In terms of sales volumes, it represents a fall of 10 % for electricity and 4 % for gas but the impact is much stronger on the margins. Indeed, the offensive launched in 2013 has led to important marketing costs and price decreases up to 10 % for electricity and 16% for gas. These “discounts” have been questioned by the consumers and have apparently not been enough to close the gap.
According to the spokesman of the group, despite the loss of 500,000 customers in 2012 and 400,000 in 2013, the situation has been stabilized in the last quarter of 2013.
Since the beginning of 2014, Electrabel’s market share went below the symbolic 50 % barrier to reach 44.5 % for electricity and 46% for gas. Electrabel reports that the 2013 net loss hit 9 billion euros.
