About energate

energate

energate is a specialist publishing house and media company for the energy industry, headquartered in Essen. Founded in 2000, it has grown into one of the leading trade publishers for the energy sector in the German-speaking world. Its flagship product, the energate messenger, launched in 2002, is the largest specialist news service for energy-industry news in the DACH region, read daily by decision-makers at municipal utilities and energy suppliers, in politics, associations and science, in energy-intensive industry and in the energy-related IT and technology sector. Since July 2022 energate has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the dfv Mediengruppe, one of Germany's largest specialist media groups.

Overview

The energate GmbH describes itself as a Fachverlag und Medienhaus, a specialist publisher and media house. Its headquarters are in Essen, with additional offices in Berlin, Zurich and Vienna, reflecting the DACH-wide orientation of its products. The company's portfolio combines digital news services, a print trade journal, energy data and content solutions, events and a podcast.

The centerpiece is the energate messenger, a daily news service that reports on the energy market: political and regulatory decisions, news about competitors, personnel changes, technology and digitalization trends, and market and price data. The offering is tiered into products such as energate messenger+ for the German market and energate messenger Schweiz for Switzerland, each delivering the day's most important news plus market data in newsletter and online-portal form. The portfolio also includes the print trade journal emw – Energie, Markt, Wettbewerb, which treats energy markets and competition in greater depth.

The target audience is defined precisely: executives and specialists at Stadtwerke and energy suppliers, professionals in politics, associations and academia, managers in energy-intensive industry, and leaders in energy-adjacent IT, communications and technology companies. This sharply delimited readership is the basis of energate's business model: advertisers and sponsors reach exactly the decision-makers of the energy industry, while subscribers pay for information that is directly relevant to their daily work. The publisher's own product materials emphasize neutral, expert information that gives readers an information advantage over customers and business partners. Testimonials from industry leaders, such as the head of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), describe the messenger as an indispensable industry medium that conveys current energy-policy developments, market events and technical and economic trends with consistently high journalistic quality.

History

energate was founded in the year 2000 by the conenergy ag, a consulting and services company for the energy industry. The timing was no coincidence: the liberalization of the German energy market at the turn of the millennium created a sudden demand for independent, fast and reliable information among the many new market participants, from municipal utilities to traders and industrial consumers. energate positioned itself from the start as a specialist publisher serving exactly this information need.

In 2002 the company launched the energate messenger, the daily news service that would become its signature product. The messenger grew with the market, adding editions and thematic add-ons for electricity, gas and heat, market and industry topics, and Austria. A Swiss edition, energate messenger Schweiz, was launched with its own editorial office in Olten and a French-language weekly review, the Revue de la semaine, reflecting the bilingual character of the Swiss energy market.

On 1 July 2022 energate was acquired by the dfv Mediengruppe as a wholly owned subsidiary, a move that anchored the Essen publisher within one of Germany's largest trade-media groups while preserving its specialist profile. Under the new ownership energate has continued to expand: it organizes physical and digital events for the industry, publishes the podcast "Irgendwas mit Energie – der energate-Podcast", and in January 2026 took a stake in the Austrian energy-data provider power2market, extending its offering in the field of exchange energy-market data.

Content and Sections

The editorial program of the energate messenger is organized around the daily information needs of energy professionals. The core is the day's most important news: political and regulatory decisions at national and EU level, developments at competitors, mergers and acquisitions, and key personnel appointments. This news flow is supplemented by add-ons with expert knowledge on the topics of electricity, gas and heat, market and industry, and Austria, which provide in-depth information and exclusive content beyond the daily headlines.

Market data form an integral part of the offering. The messenger delivers price and market data for the energy markets, and the company's data business, strengthened by the participation in power2market, supplies exchange market data and content solutions to corporate customers. The print journal emw – Energie, Markt, Wettbewerb complements the daily news rhythm with longer analyses of energy markets and competition issues.

The podcast "Irgendwas mit Energie" extends the brand into audio, discussing energy topics in conversational form. Events, both physical and digital, bring the readership together for conferences and forums on current industry themes. Together these formats create a multi-channel information ecosystem: the daily messenger for the news overview, the add-ons for expert depth, the print journal for analysis, the podcast for background, and events for personal exchange.

Publisher and Organization

The energate GmbH is headquartered in Essen, with offices in Berlin and, for the Swiss and Austrian markets, in Zurich and Vienna. Since 1 July 2022 the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the dfv Mediengruppe, the Frankfurt-based specialist media group. The founding shareholder was the conenergy ag, an energy-industry consulting and services firm, which established energate in 2000 as a specialist publishing venture.

The company operates as a Fachverlag, a specialist publisher, with editorial teams in its offices and correspondents covering Brussels and other relevant locations. The Swiss operation was built around a dedicated editorial office in Olten, supported by the offices in Essen and Berlin and by reporting from Brussels, and advised by an expert advisory board drawn from experienced figures in the Swiss energy industry. The management has emphasized the publisher's independence and journalistic standards as the basis of its market position.

Beyond publishing, energate has developed into a provider of energy data and content solutions for corporate clients, and its events business organizes industry gatherings in physical and digital formats. The 2026 investment in the Austrian data provider power2market marked a further step in building the data pillar of the business.

Digital Presence

The digital presence of energate is centered on energate.de and the online portals of the messenger products, which provide subscribers with daily updated news, archived articles and market data. The messenger is delivered as a newsletter and through the web portal, with the Swiss edition operating its own portal. The digital offering is subscription-based, with free trial periods that end automatically, reflecting the publisher's B2B business model.

The podcast "Irgendwas mit Energie" is distributed through the usual podcast platforms and the energate website, giving the brand a voice in the growing audio segment of trade media. The company's event formats are promoted and documented online, and its data and content solutions are marketed to corporate customers through the digital channels. Social media presence and newsletters keep the professional community informed and drive engagement with the messenger's daily output. As a digital-first specialist publisher with a print journal, events and data services, energate exemplifies the modern trade-media model: journalism as the core, surrounded by data, events and services that monetize the same editorial expertise.