Ökonomische und rechtliche Grenzen der Kürzung bei der Ermittlung des betriebsnotwendigen Eigenkapitals

As far as what constitutes the capital necessary for running a business according to article 7, paragraph 1 of GasNEV/33 StromNEV is concerned, the extent to which asymmetric cuts are permissible is a contentious issue. Such cuts can occur when the regulatory authorities class an item on the assets side of a company’s balance sheet as not necessary for running a business and yet assess a corresponding item on the liabilities side of the balance sheet to be non-interest-bearing. Until now there has not been a consistent economic and legal concept of how we can determine what constitutes the capital necessary for running a business in such cases. This study aims to contribute to the development of such a concept. It is based on two expert reports compiled on behalf of E.ON.