The E.on energy group (www.eonenergy.com) has announced a record loss for the third quarter of 2015, due to “heavy write-downs” in the value of its power plants.

The German-owned company said it wrote down its power-generation assets by 8.3 billion euros for the period July to September, which led to a net loss of nearly 7.0 billion euros.

CFO Michael Sen said: “The charges were triggered by the significant decline in commodity and energy prices, which is mainly a result of structural changes in global energy markets and the regulatory framework. Our operating environment remains very difficult.”