In Austria, gas consumption fell by about ten percent in the autumn compared to the previous three years. The great thing is that this is not only due to the warm weather, but that the savings from industry and households go even further, says Johannes Schmidt of BOKU Vienna. At the same time, however, electricity production from gas is not as high as in the past three years. Economist Philipp Schmidt-Dengler was also criticized on Tuesday, who stated in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal” that it is difficult to obtain information about household energy consumption. “More needs to be done,” says Schmidt-Dengler. The government’s brake on the electricity price is also not well received by the experts.
According to Johannes Schmidt: “In addition to the weather, we have seen savings, from households and from industry. In short, we have a good starting position for the winter.” The storage facilities are very well stocked, as good as never before. “The gas storages in Europe have been empty since Saturday, which is relatively late in the year. We were lucky with the weather, it was warm.” Even outside the weather, savings were made on gas consumption.
Less consumption in the fall
Here the data situation in Germany is better, where savings of ten to twenty percent are recorded. The model has been imitated in Austria, but in this country some numbers would have to be estimated, for example because it was not entirely clear who used which gas. “We see that, adjusted for the weather, we saved ten to fifteen percent in September and October,” but the savings dropped to five percent in November.
Many savings come from industry
“We assume that a lot of these savings will come from industry,” says Schmidt. At the same time, the savings realized in November also decreased as the price of gas on the spot market fell and the industries that source there increased their consumption accordingly. Gas was also saved in July and August, mainly by industry. On an annual basis, Austria consumed five percent less gas this year than in the comparable periods from 2015 to 2021.
Electricity production from gas relatively high
However, gas consumption for electricity production is higher this year than in the past three years. “We have a shortage in the electricity sector,” says Schmidt. The reason for this is that low rainfall and low water levels have dampened electricity production from hydropower.
Schmidt-Dengler: “More needs to be done”
The government’s energy-saving campaign launched two months ago, which aims to reduce household energy consumption by eleven percent, is merely a recommendation to reduce heating, take shorter showers or run the dishwasher on low-power mode. It is still unclear whether this campaign will have any effect. According to Philipp Schmidt-Dengler of the Institute of Economics at the University of Vienna, there is also a lack of up-to-date information on household energy consumption. “More needs to be done, households don’t know how much they contribute to savings,” says Schmidt-Dengler.
Criticism of the brake on the electricity price
The experts also criticize the government’s drag on electricity prices, which fails to motivate people to save energy. On the contrary, according to Schmidt-Dengler, people only pay attention to consumption when prices are higher. The brake on the electricity price was not socially differentiated and there were hardly any incentives to save.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
