RWE denies UK arm npower is up for sale, as profits soar But Volker Beckers, chief executive of RWE npower, said that the retail division had broadly broken even in 2011, an improvement on a loss in 2010. He said he did not understand why the public did not recognise that UK energy prices were comparatively low. "This market still has, in Europe, by far the lowest prices and I don't know why we don't recognise that as a fact," he said. We are exposed to the same global commodity dynamics and yet we have the lowest residential prices. You have a similar debate in other countries, but there the understanding is much more, 'We have to transform the energy system, we want to have full compliance with climate change targets'. In other countries people are saying, 'For a greener world I am willing to accept that prices are going higher.' There was speculation last year that RWE would offload RWE npower as part of a strategic review, sparked by the German government's plans to withdraw from nuclear power. However, Mr Beckers said: "It's not up for sale." He declined to say if it had ever been up for sale but said: "For me this is water under the bridge. We have never commented on speculation. Large companies like RWE always review [their] portfolio on an ongoing basis. RWE is divesting up to €7bn of assets by the end of 2013. RWE chief executive Jürgen Großmann said the company had introduced the necessary measures to get it "through the trough quickly," as he reported an 18pc decline in group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation to €8.5bn. The German nuclear decisions alone had a negative impact of well over €1bn, RWE said. Low margins on electricity generation had also contributed to the widely-expected decline, but RWE said the results were slightly ahead of forecast.