WARSAW, Sept 19 (Askume) – The chief financial officer of Polish utility Enea (ENAE.WA) must secure financing for a big investment and needs more clarity on the future of coal assets and market regulation before making a long-term proposal for dividend policy.
Utilities are investing heavily, including in green energy, to meet EU regulations and reduce reliance on coal. Enea had 0.5 GW of green energy capacity as of the end of June and plans to increase this to more than 0.8 GW between 2024 and 2026.
“We have to invest, but invest wisely, to build up the renewable energy business of energy companies, but we must have the capital to do that… We want to return to a normal dividend policy, in which dividends will be paid by healthy organisations”, Marek Lelatko said at a meeting.
“I expect the coal assets issue to become clear in the next few months to a dozen months. There are also regulatory issues… which will allow us to better plan our business and return to a normal dividend cycle,” he added.
Under the previous government, Poland planned to sell coal-fired power plants from state-owned utilities to increase its focus on green energy, while banks also sought to avoid financing coal-dependent companies.
The programme was cancelled last year and the new government has not yet announced a replacement.
