At the same time, the findings show that company size alone does not determine how effectively risk management works in practice. Effective risk management can be established regardless of the size of an organisation. What matters more is ensuring that methods, processes and responsibilities are tailored to the specific organisation.

Against the backdrop of increasing investment requirements, growing demands on grid resilience and limited resources, structured risk management is becoming increasingly important. The key question is not only which risks exist, but above all how the right priorities and investment decisions can be derived from them.

In the latest issue of ew magazine, Matthias Wessels, Mike Mischkalla-Schoen and Michael Grigorjew show where the industry currently stands and which best practices contribute to effective risk management.

What characterises effective risk management?

The article focuses on, among other things:

• consistently linking risk management with investment and budget decisions
• clear responsibilities and effective governance
• establishing a comprehensive risk landscape
• making targeted use of data and analytics
• further developing systematic approaches and practical effectiveness

One particularly interesting finding of the study concerns ISO 55001 certification: certified companies achieve an average overall maturity level of 73%, compared with an average of 50% across the sample as a whole.

The findings show that mature risk management involves more than the structured identification and assessment of risks. When properly integrated into decision-making processes, it helps ensure that scarce resources are deployed where they make the greatest contribution to security of supply, safety, economic efficiency and sustainable grid development.

How mature is your risk management?

With our maturity assessment, we work with you to evaluate the current state of your risk management and benchmark it against other German network operators.

Based on self-assessment, document reviews and interviews, we identify specific strengths and areas for development. From this, we develop an individual roadmap with prioritised measures to advance your risk management in a targeted and practical way.

Whether you are looking for a maturity assessment, the further development of existing processes or the integration of risk, asset and investment management, please get in touch with our experts Matthias Wessels, Mike Mischkalla-Schoen and Michael Grigorjew.

The full article, “Risk Management: Need for Action among Distribution System Operators”, is available in German and was published in issue 11/2026 of ew magazine: ew_11_2026_E-Bridge