For the customers of Burgenland Energie, Energie Steiermark, Illwerke/VKW, Kelag, Tiwag, Energie AG in OÖ, Linz AG and Salzburg AG, the prices will remain the same for the time being.
The state energy suppliers in Upper Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg do not want to bring forward price adjustments. The energy suppliers announced this on Thursday on request. Just yesterday, Wednesday, the announcement by Energieallianz Austria (EAA) about early index adjustments at Wien Energie and EVN caused waves to run high. At Burgenland Energie, also part of the EAA, the prices will remain the same for the time being.
In Upper Austria, Energie AG is sticking to its price guarantee for electricity and gas on standard products until January 1, 2023. This means that by then “nothing will change for 97 percent of our customers,” the energy supplier said. After the guarantee has expired, however, there will have to be a price adjustment, it was promised.
There have already been price increases at Linz AG. Electricity prices went up on July 1 – the first tariff increase for existing customers in twelve years. The municipal energy supplier’s district heating tariffs were also raised in August. Linz AG’s natural gas tariff has not yet been changed. The development on the energy market and the gas price index development are currently being observed, it said.
The energy supplier Salzburg AG last increased its electricity and gas prices at the beginning of April. A spokeswoman for the company ruled out further adjustments for existing customers this year – both for electricity and gas as well as for district heating.
Energie Steiermark also announced electricity and gas price adjustments in the spring. Electricity and district heating have become 18 to 20 euros more expensive since April and May. From September, natural gas will incur additional costs of 29 euros for an average household. No further increases are currently planned, according to the communications department of the energy company.
An early index adjustment is also not planned at Kelag, according to the Carinthian energy supplier. However, Kelag had already announced in mid-July that it would raise the natural gas consumption price for private and small commercial customers to 9.87 cents net per kilowatt hour in November. For a detached house with an annual consumption of 15,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of natural gas, this means additional monthly costs of 82 to 92 euros including taxes. Kelag had increased the electricity prices on April 1 this year – this means that customers have a price guarantee for one year.
Electricity price in Tyrol increased in June
The Tyrolean state supplier Tiwag only increased the electricity price by around 15 percent in June, which should increase the electricity bill by an average of six percent. “No increase is planned for existing customers until June 1, 2023,” said CEO Erich Entstrasser. However, a different rule applies to new customers: For them, the prices increase, depending on how the Austrian electricity price index (ÖSPI) develops. The electricity price increase for existing customers in June will of course also depend on the ÖSPI. From today’s perspective, Entstrasser therefore expected a “significant increase” in a year’s time.
In Vorarlberg, electricity and gas prices will remain stable until at least April 1, 2023. State governor Barbara Schöbi-Fink (ÖVP) emphasized this several times in the course of the discussion about a possible electricity price cap in the past few weeks. With regard to the index adjustments, no changes are planned, according to Illwerke/VKW. “Our current general terms and conditions allow for an adjustment once a year,” says company spokesman Andreas Neuhauser.
The market situation and “dramatic price increases” made it necessary for Energieallianz Austria to bring forward the index adjustment in the standard tariffs of Wien Energie and EVN from January 1, 2023 to September 1, 2022, according to a statement on Wednesday. At Burgenland Energie, the price increase will come as planned in January 2023. In future, prices at EVN, Wien Energie and Burgenland Energie will be adjusted twice a year.
criticism from politics
After SPÖ, FPÖ and the Greens, the Lower Austrian NEOS also criticized the electricity price increases announced by EVN on Thursday: The pink state spokeswoman Indra Collini described the increases in a broadcast as “incomprehensible”. Collini sees the need for EVN management and the state of Lower Austria as EVN majority owners to provide relief.
In view of the early price increases at Wien Energie and EVN, the social spokeswoman for the Freedom Party, Dagmar Belakowitsch, renewed her call for a price cap on energy, fuel and staple foods in a broadcast on Thursday.
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