The RWE Group emerged from Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk Aktiengesellschaft, Essen, which was founded in 1898. After the first municipalities had taken up shares in the young company in 1905, they represented the majority of the company's shareholders for a long time.
In 1922, the share was quoted on the Berlin Stock Exchange for the first time. But it was not before the change in the par value of the common share from DM 50 in 1968 to DM 5 in 1995 that RWE was increasingly tapping new investor circles.