A little more than a month after claiming that the ‘worst was yet to come’, German energy giant Uniper is taking desperate measures. Reportedly, the company is closing office space in its headquarters and lowering the temperature in the remaining areas to save gas.
According to local media reports, the company in its Düsseldorf headquarters has shut down devices and lamps in 50 per cent of the office spaces. The temperature has been lowered to 14 degrees and the cleaning has been stopped as well.
Meanwhile, the offices where employees are working, the thermostat has been set at 20 degrees.
Uniper, Germany’s biggest importer of gas has been hit hard by the reduction in gas supplies from Russia. The company was in such dire straits that the Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government in July had to bail out the company with a $15.24 billion bailout package.
However, that didn’t prove enough as the German government in September nationalised the company by announcing that it was acquiring 98.5 per cent stake in the company and investing more than $7.9 billion.
Read more: Germany nationalises energy giant Uniper to combat global energy crisis
As reported by WION, prior to the nationalisation, Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach had warned that the worst was yet to come for the continent of Europe.
“I have said this a number of times now over this year and I’m also educating policymakers. Look, the worst is still to come,” said Klaus-Dieter Maubach, Uniper CEO.
Adding that the wholesale prices had shot exponentially, Maubach called for an open discussion amongst the stakeholders.
“What we see on the wholesale market is 20 times the price that we have seen two years ago. 20 times. That is why I think we need to have really an open discussion with everyone taking responsibility on how to fix that,”
(With inputs from agencies)
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