German utility EnBW scaled back its hedging rates over the past year while selling the same amount of electricity, the company said in its financial results on Monday.

The company hedged 100% (Y+1), 40-70% (Y+2)  and 10-30% (Y+3) of its power output up to Dec. 31 2015, slightly down on the respective 100%, 55-80% and 10-35% rates reported a year earlier.

Yet the figures showed Germany’s number three utility had advanced on the 85-100% (Y+1) and 35-55% (Y+2) rates it reported for Q3 2015.

EnBW’s overall electricity sales were flat at 47 TWh.

Utility hedging rates are closely monitored by participants in the EU ETS because the data can provide a window into existing and future EUA demand from the bloc’s biggest allowance buyers.

EMISSIONS

The company’s conventional generation dipped 4% to 48.9 TWh, it said, without breaking out the non-ETS regulated nuclear generation that represents just over half of its conventional output.

It said a drop in fossil fuel-based output was the main reason for the company’s 15.8% reduction in direct CO2 emissions to 16.5 million tonnes in 2015.

ENBW cut its dividend payments and reported a decline in core earnings for the sixth year in a row on lower wholesale electricity prices, which have forced the firm to take massive writedowns on its power plants alongside bigger rivals RWE and E.ON.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com