Austria Energy Price Tender

The AK reacted with incomprehension to the energy summit which took place on March 13 2022 without the involvement of the Chamber of Labor and trade unions. For months numerous concerned energy customers have been turning to us because they dont know how to pay the enormously high electricity and gas prices. District heating customers whose prepayment amounts have been increased by up to 50 percent are also under pressure and the terrible war in Ukraine is driving prices up further emphasizes AK President Renate Anderl. According to the Chamber of Labor there will be high additional payments with the annual energy bills for many households that use electricity and gas.In view of the dramatic situation in which many households find themselves it must be openly discussed that some energy companies are making hefty profits. Many companies are in a similar situation - the economy is booming - they can make enormous profits with their products but simply pass on their costs to the customers who ultimately have to pay for the price increase.People are being let down. They are not only confronted with extremely high energy prices - they also have to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets for rent and groceries. Daily life is becoming a massive burden for many households.The AK has the necessary expertise to absorb these burdens. The government would be well advised to use this knowledge and learn from mistakes such as the unsuccessful energy cost subsidy.For months we have been putting concrete and easy-to-implement proposals on the table on how to cushion this crisis and we are available for an exchange at any time. Unfortunately however the government sees no need to include the perspective of consumers in its considerations but rather exchanges ideas one-sidedly with the energy industry Households pay the bill for this explains Anderl and calls for further measures. The war in Ukraine leads to further increases in wholesale prices which is why in addition to a new procurement and storage strategy for gas and the expansion of renewable energies another protection package for consumers must be developed. The protection package II of the AK includesTemporary halving of VAT from the current 20 to 10.Increase heating cost subsidies from the federal states noticeably and in the long term - Communicate the right to basic energy supply more and better People have the right to energy supply. You can refer to any energy supplier that they are obliged to supply energy against deposit of an amount that may not be higher than a monthly installment. The basic supply tariff must not be higher than the tariff at which the largest number of customers is supplied by the respective energy supplier.The energy and climate aid fund which is intended among other things to provide comprehensive support for low-energy households so that everyone can participate in the energy transition must now come quicklyConsumer-friendly standard tariffs that are affordable and on which households can rely in the long term as well as a regulation of tariffs to cap energy prices should be considered.Significant increase in the energy support funds of the energy suppliers in order to quickly and unbureaucratically relieve customers who are affected by energy poverty or who cannot pay their energy bills. At the same time the advisory services are to be expanded.Close monitoring of the energy markets and an in-depth competition law review of the relevant energy exchanges also with regard to speculative effects that are driving prices up.Redistribute windfall profits According to estimates by the International Energy Agency the so-called windfall profits unpredictable random profits due to changes in the market situation in the EU amount to 200 billion euros. These should be skimmed off with the help of taxes and redistributed to energy consumers.With Austrias majority publicly owned energy utilities the federal and state governments could benefit from higher dividends and earmark them to mitigate negative social impacts.