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_Economy_Minister_Reinhold_Mitterlehner_has_promised_a_further_reduction_of_bureaucratic_obstacles_for_people_planning_to_change_their_electricity_providers. "People’s Party (ÖVP) Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner has promised a further reduction of bureaucratic obstacles for people planning to change their electricity providers.")
RSS Feed Business07. 02. 12. - 20:00
Electricity supplier switch barriers to disappear
People’s Party (ÖVP) Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner has promised a further reduction of bureaucratic obstacles for people planning to change their electricity providers.
The minister said today (Tues): "Electricity is too expensive in Austria. The suppliers failed to pass on price declines on the global trading market to their customers in the past months."
Mitterlehner underlined that switching the supplier of electricity and gas was a relatively hassle-free action but announced plans to make such steps even easier for clients in the near future. The economy minister’s appeal follows criticism by Walter Boltz.
Boltz, who heads energy sector watchdog E-Control, said only last week that prices on the domestic market "should be 10 to 15 per cent lower". Boltz claimed every Austrian household should pay between 20 and 25 Euros less a year for electricity and gas if providers took price developments on the international energy products trade since 2008 into account.
The E-Control chief said today the savings potential for homes with electric heating was even higher, especially in cold winters. Austria is, as most of Europe, gripped by a cold snap for some days after experiencing an unusually warm winter. Boltz criticised already last week that the current consumer prices in Austria were proof that "competition in the electricity sector does not function as it should".
The energy industry dismissed the accusations today. A spokeswoman for the sector said in a radio interview this morning that prices were determined by nothing else but competition. She said suppliers had to consider various aspects such as infrastructure costs. The energy sector spokeswoman pointed out that providers in western Austria usually had lower price ranges due to the high supply with hydro power.
Speaking about the possibility to change one’s provider, Boltz explained today that the switch would normally not take more than three weeks. The E-Control chief previously stressed that the chosen new supplier was taking care of most bureaucratic issues if a person decided to cancel a contract to save heating and electricity costs. Just 1.7 per cent of Austrians are changing their electricity providers each year, according to the energy sector expert.
Boltz also warned that changing the provider of electricity and gas would not guarantee low prices since companies often quickly changed their consumer prices. However, the E-Control head emphasised that switching one’s supplier was possible only three weeks after the most recent change.
The price of energy products and services had an immense impact on last year’s domestic inflation. Austria recorded a 3.3 per cent inflation rate in 2011. The average level of prices for products and services of all kind on offer in the country are expected to rise by around two per cent from last year to 2012. Economic experts explained that the inflation was set to edge down shortly due to the weak condition the European economy was currently in.
Meanwhile, energy sector staff are gearing up for a labour conflict. Works council chiefs asked the Federal Trade Union (ÖGB) for permission to down tools at some point within the coming months yesterday after failing to agree with company bosses in the latest series of wage talks. Executive board members suggested employees’ salaries could be raised by 3.9 per cent. Unionists rejected the offer. They demanded an increase similar to the 4.2 per cent which staff working for mineral oil companies were granted recently.
Austrian Times
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Tag cloud:
Economy providers inflation price Europe criticism electricity Electricity consumer domestic competition Minister products switching rsquo Austria heating energy Boltz supplier
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