Eon seeks €8bn over nuclear phase-out Eon, Germany's largest utility by sales, is to seek €8bn in damages from the German government for the accelerated phase-out of nuclear energy, should the country's constitutional court deem the policy shift an illegal act of expropriation. Eon's announcement came as the highest court asked dozens of institutions - including the BDI industry association - to give their views on constitutional challenges submitted by Eon and rival RWE after Berlin last year closed eight of 17 nuclear reactors and brought forward a final phase-out from 2036 to 2022. IN Utilities While legal experts believe a constitutional ruling will not come until late 2013 at the earliest, Eon's demands throw a stark light on the risks of chancellor Angela Merkel's "energy transformation" after last year's nuclear disaster in Japan. Ms Merkel's ambition to replace nuclear power with renewable energy over the next decade has stirred fierce debate about the dangers of electricity supply shortfalls and rising prices. People familiar with the matter believe the potential payouts to the nuclear operators could total €15bn in compensation for lost revenues and now-redundant investments. While the government has always maintained the constitutionality of the parliamentary vote to accelerate Germany's nuclear phase-out, Eon and RWE have been vociferous in their opposition, filing suits in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The companies claim Ms Merkel's move to bring forward the phase-out was hasty. Eon believes the lost revenues and investments in security equipment and nuclear fuel total some €8bn, while RWE calculates damages of €2bn alone for its two reactor blocks at Biblis, central Germany, according to people briefed on the filings. However, Eon has been the only utility to quantify the total loss it says it suffered. RWE said it would detail a damages claim only if the constitutional court upheld its expropriation complaint as only that ruling could serve as the basis for a compensation suit before a civil or administrative court. Swedish company Vattenfall, Germany's third-largest nuclear operator by sales, is seeking damages before an international arbitration committee, although it did not specify the amount it was after. EnBW, the smallest operator, owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg, has not decided whether to sue the national government. Legal experts said the oral hearing to lay out the case on the nuclear phase-out in Germany's highest court was unlikely before year's end. The court declined to comment.