Stadtwerke München

Stadtwerke München GmbH (Munich City Utilities) or SWM is a German communal company, owned by the city of Munich, which offers public services for the city and the region of Munich. The company supplies electricity for more than 95% of Munich's 750.000 households as well as natural gas, drinking water and, through its stake in the M-net Telekommunikations GmbH, telecommunications services. SWM is Europe's largest municipal utility company and ranks among Germany's principal energy providers according to company information. Expanding use of renewable energy has been a central element in the company's strategy since 2008. However, the company is also engaged in the industrialisation of the Norwegian wilderness through massive wind-turbines, which has created great opposition in Norway, among others in Sørmarka, Trøndelag. Through its subsidiary, the Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (MVG) (founded in 2001), the SWM also runs most of the inner city public transportation network by maintaining the Munich U-Bahn as well as the Munich Tramway and bus services.
Under the "M-Strom" name, SWM offers various electricity rates and related services for private and business customers in Munich and the surrounding region. Many offers are available nationwide. With more than 250,000 green energy customers, SWM refers to itself as one of the largest providers of green electricity in the private and commercial market in Germany. Within Munich city limits and the surrounding region, SWM operates twelve hydroelectric power plants, several plants which generate electricity from renewable energy, and the three cogeneration power plants Nord, Süd and Freimann, which generate around 70 percent of the electricity through cogeneration.
SWM supplies its customers with natural gas as part of the trans-European network. The company is also able to draw on its own underground storage. SWM offers various natural gas rates, some of which are available nationwide. In Munich, SWM operates ten natural gas stations where cars can fill up on renewable bio-methane.
When generating electricity in the cogeneration process, heat is created which is then inputted into the district heating grid from SWM's cogeneration plants. SWM produces district heating in its cogeneration and heating plants which supplies large buildings and households via over 800 kilometers of steam and hot water networks, which is then in turn used for heating and the supply of hot water. Thanks to wide-ranging investments in this area, connecting to the SWM district heating network is now possible in an increasing number of districts in Munich. By 2040, the aim is to produce 100 percent of district heating in Munich using renewable energies.
Compared to conventional air conditioning systems, district cooling has less of an environmental impact and is more energy efficient – in fact, district cooling requires around half of the primary energy required by air conditioning. Cold ground water is used as the energy source for cooling within a closed loop system, and only the pumps are operated using electricity. The slightly warmed groundwater is then subsequently returned to the groundwater system.
Some 80 percent of the drinking water for Munich comes from the Mangfalltal valley near Weyarn in Upper Bavaria, while 20 percent is sourced from the Loisachtal valley near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, between Oberau and Farchant. The southern area of the Munich gravel plain also serves as a reserve for peaks in demand. The high quality of the city's drinking water is, among other things, attributable to these procurement areas in the Bavarian Alpine foothills, as well as the sustainable forestry in these regions.
SWM operates ten indoor and eight outdoor swimming pools in Munich. The company's operations in this area deliver on the “Munich swimming pool concept” adopted by the city council in 1991, which provided for the improvement of the city's swimming pools for leisure and recreation. In Munich, there are two combined pool complexes (combination of indoor and outdoor pools): the Westbad in Weinbergerstrasse in the west and the Michaelibad in Heinrich-Wieland-Strasse in the east. The Michaelibad is Munich's largest recreation and leisure pool complex.
The offer range also includes the energy saving advice project for low-income households, which SWM carries out together with Munich-based charities.
In 2008, SWM initiated an offensive for expanding the use of renewable energies. By 2025, SWM is aiming to produce as much green electricity with its own plants as consumed by the whole of Munich – some 7.5 billion kilowatt hours per year. The renewable energies expansion offensive has a budget of around nine billion euros. Currently, SWM holds a stake in the offshore wind parks Global Tech I, Gwynt y Môr and DanTysk, among others. Further projects like the offshore wind park Sandbank are currently in the planning phase.
Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (MVG), a subsidiary of SWM, offers a range of public transport in Munich, including subway, bus and tram.
Together with its subsidiary M-net Telekommunikations GmbH, SWM is laying a fiber-optic network in Munich. Moreover, M-net is investing in the expansion of fiber-optic broadband networks in other regions of Bavaria. These are already available in over 50 percent of Bavarian households as well as for private and business customers in the Greater Ulm region.
Stadtwerke München has been a GmbH since 1998, i.e. a private law-governed limited company, which is wholly owned by the City of Munich. As a municipal company, SWM provides public services. SWM's headquarters is in the north of Munich, in Emmy-Noether-Strasse 2.
SWM has expanded its core business areas through participations.
SWM consists of the following subsidiaries:
SWM has investments with the following companies:
The company's Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Florian Bieberbach. Other managing directors are Ingo Wortmann (mobility), Helge-Uve Braun (technology), Karin Thelen (regional energy transition) and Gabriele Jahn (human resources, real estate, public pools). Dieter Reiter, Mayor of Munich, is Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
In Munich and the surrounding area, SWM produces energy at around 50 plants.
SWM currently operates 24 PV sites within Munich city limits and Moosburg. A total of 16 of the sites were actively financed by the income from the SWM M-Ökostrom green energy tariff. In this green energy rate, customers pay an extra surcharge compared to the standard SWM electricity rate. The income from the additional charge is used by SWM to build renewable energy plants in the region around Munich.
SWM founded the SWM Education Foundation in November 2007. It promotes measures and projects in pre-school and school fields as well as in initial vocational training. To mark its fifth anniversary in 2013, the SWM Education Foundation introduced two new focuses to its work: its own scholarship program as well as an award. The scholarship program is aimed at students studying engineering as well as natural sciences, economic sciences and IT based in Munich and the surrounding region. The Foundation's award, which comes with 10,000 euros in prize money, has been presented every year since 2013 in recognition of special efforts in the field of education for disadvantaged children, teens and young adults.
Socially disadvantaged and/or individually affected young people are supported by SWM via the "Stadtwerke Project" education initiative. The Stadtwerke Project has worked together with the city's youth welfare office for over 25 years to offer around five young people per year a technical/commercial vocational training at SWM, in connection with career-related advice and socio-educational support. The young people not only receive a complete vocational training, but also support in leading an independent life.
SWM funds the sports teams Schwimmstartgemeinschaft Stadtwerke München (SG SWM, swimming team) and Leichtathletikgemeinschaft Stadtwerke München (LG SWM, track and field team). SG SWM was formed when the individual swimming clubs Isarnixen Damen-Schwimm-Verein München, Männer-Schwimm-Verein München, Freier Wassersportverein München and Schwimmverein München 1899 merged. The training and competitive sports club is successful in the fields of swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo and diving. Through its funding, the company aims to promote competitive sports in these four areas as well as participation in national and international competitions.