 | |
| Abbreviation | VKU |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1949 |
| Founded at | Rüdesheim am Rhein |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
| Services | advocacy group representing municipally owned infrastructure undertakings and economic enterprises in Germany |
President | Michael Ebling |
Managing Director | Ingbert Liebing |
Staff | 120 |
The Verband kommunaler Unternehmen e. V. (VKU) is a German advocacy group representing municipally owned infrastructure undertakings and economic enterprises in Germany. It represents the interests of its members towards legislators on state-, federal- and European level. Its member companies are active in the fields of energy- and water supply, wastewater treatment, telecommunication, waste management and street cleaning.
History
editThe VKU was founded in 1949 in Rüdesheim am Rhein[1]. After the Second World War, the VKU supported municipal enterprises in their restructuring efforts.[2] After the collapse of the GDR in 1989, the VKU aided cities in Eastern Germany in reconstructing municipal energy and water supply infrastructure.[2]
The VKU today
editIn 2019, the VKU had a total of 1474 member companies with a combined annual turnover of around 118 Billion Euros and over 268.000 employees[3]. Their combined market shares in their areas of activity amounted to 61% for electricity, 66.7% for natural gas, 86.4% for drinking water, 70.2% for heat supply and 43.8% for wastewater disposal in 2019. Every day, the VKUs members dispose of 31.500 tons of municipal waste and are decisive contributors to Germany’s recycling quota of 68%, which is the highest among European Union member states. In addition, they supply over 6 million customers with broadband infrastructure[3].
The association itself is structured according to the fields of activity of the member companies: The VKU has a dedicated department for energy, for water and wastewater, for telecommunication, for waste collection, -treatment and city cleaning. The core activity of the VKU concerns informing and influencing the legislative process by issuing press statements, formulating common positons for its members and elucidating them for decision-makers.
In 2007, the association moved its headquarters from Cologne to Berlin. In addition to its headquarters, the VKU operates country-level branches all over Germany as well as an office in Brussels. Since January 2016, the head major of Mainz, Michael Ebling, is President of the VKU.[4] The operative business of the VKU is run by its managing director Ingbert Liebing , who has been appointed in April 2020.[5]
Leadership
editVKU in numbers
edit| Annual turnover: | 116.2 Bn. € |
| Number of employees: | 268.123 |
| Annual investment | 10 Bn. € |
(2019)
Combined market shares of VKU-members:
| electricity/ Mio. kWh |
gas/ Mio. kWh |
heat/ Mio. kWh |
water/ Mio. m³ |
wastewater/ Mio. m³ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplied by VKU members | 270.172 | 583.566 | 60.099 | 3.928 | 3.273 |
| German total | 447.9861 | 898.2251 | 83.7032 | 4.4683 | 7.5903 |
| Share of VKU members | 60,3 % | 65,0 % | 71,8 % | 87,9 % | 43,1 % |
1 Source: StatBA, 20162 Source: AGFW, 20163 Source: StatBA, 2013
Weblinks
editExternal links
edit- ^ Lormes, Ivo (2016). Kommunalisierung der Energieversorgung: Eine explorative Untersuchung von Stadtwerke-Gründungen. Wiesbaden: Springer-Verlag. p. 56. ISBN 3658133198, 9783658133191.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ a b "70 Jahre Verband kommunaler Unternehmen | Pressemitteilungen | Pressebereich | Verband kommunaler Unternehmen e.V." www.vku.de. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ^ a b Verband kommunaler Unternehmen e. V. (VKU) (2019). "LOCAL PUBLIC UTILITIES AND WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANIES IN FIGURES" (PDF). vku.de.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ EU-R. "Michael Ebling neuer VKU-Präsident" (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ^ "Ingbert Liebing ab 1. April neuer Hauptgeschäftsführer des VKU". www.zfk.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
[[Category:1949 establishments]] [[Category:Municipal politics of Germany]]