"We are not commenting on the figures," a spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Handelsblatt, in a story published on its website on Wednesday and citing unnamed sources at E.ON, said the utility faced additional costs and writedowns that would tip it over 2015's record loss of 7 billion euros ($7.7 billion).

In August E.ON reported a first-half net loss of 3.03 billion euros. It faces further writedowns after a spin-off of power plant and energy trading firm Uniper, which it had valued in its books at around 12 billion euros, but is currently trading at a market capitalisation of 4.4 billion euros.

It will also face further costs due to a German law forcing utilities to pay into a fund for nuclear waste storage.

E.ON is due to publish its third-quarter results on Nov. 9.

($1 = 0.9120 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Susan Fenton)