Fast forward to the year 2030: What were your key products or services that made RheinEnergie a champion in helping B2C customers to reduce their carbon footprint?

Our winning product bundle was an integrated energy solution for B2C customers in new and existing residential quarters. It covers heating, cooling and electricity generation (using PV, solar thermal or geothermal energy) and mobility solutions (like e-cars, bicycles, public transport) as well as related billing services and energy management systems for the landlords. All this, of course, mainly based on renewable resources.

How important are sustainable and carbon neutral offerings for B2C customers compared to the B2B segment?

For RheinEnergie they very important. In large cities/regions like ours people are mainly renting or owning apartments in larger buildings. Thus, they cannot choose the providers of their energy supplies (except electricity). Therefore, we see this mainly as a B2B2C market in which we can deliver carbon neutral solutions to many B2C customers through a single B2B contract with a landlord.

What are the main challenges for energy suppliers in offering sustainable and carbon neutral products and services for B2C customers?

The challenge is to do this transformation in a way, that the B2C customers will not be financially overburdened. Therefore, the transformation is and will be depending on existing, but also on additional new subsidies. Subsidies and/or governmental regulation will also determine the technical solutions and the speed of implementation to a large extend - today and in the future.