Grundlagen des Contracting

Contracting has established itself as a permanent factor in the debate about energy policy and the energy industry. In a survey of senior managers in the German energy sector on the trends and services which will gain heavily in importance from 2002 to 2004, contracting occupied a prime position, immediately after «New services in general» and «Multi-utility» and far ahead of «Electricity trading» or «Telecommunications/Power lines». Energy policy expectations of contracting are high and a lot of confidence is being placed in this service. Similarly long-term planning perspectives to those usual for energy generation facilities (e.g. power stations) must thus be facilitated for investment in saving energy. In its original version, contracting Is only intended for the implementation of investments dedicated purely to saving energy, if possible, and accompanying measures by third parties. The amortisation of investments made by the contractor from the savings which can be made on energy costs is disputed. In parallel to such «economy contracting» (also known as «performance contracting»), energy supply contracting (also known as plant contracting or the supply of useful energy) has predominantly emerged, with a stronger orientation towards ordinary customer energy supply contracts. The user commissions an energy utility to provide the useful energy required. The utility frequently also assumes investment in the necessary technical plant, including planning, finance and operation - analogous to the supply of district heating. Various forms of finance contracting also exist which tend towards leasing and contracting models for the management of existing technical installations, which does not anticipate any (major) investment by the contractor.