At least 760,000 households in Austria have not received an energy cost voucher. The Vorarlberg Labor Chamber has now come to this conclusion and has therefore sued the Republic. An electricity meter was required to redeem the energy cost voucher.
The voucher worth 150 euros was sent to every address in Austria to relieve households of the increased energy costs. To get the money, a certain income limit could not be exceeded. In addition, an electricity meter was necessary. Anyone who has a household but no electricity meter – for example because electricity costs are paid via a submeter or via operating costs – was not taken into account.
Hundreds of complaints
Hundreds of people then filed complaints with the Chamber of Labor’s consumer advocates. The AK saw “factually unjustified unequal treatment” and went to court on behalf of those affected. They wanted to know how many households in Austria were affected by the situation, so the AK did the calculations and concluded that there were at least 760,000 households.
Additional payments possible?
Now the Republic must present all the data to prove the alleged accuracy of the Energy Cost Equalization Act 2022. However, no legal representative has appeared in court so far. The AK suspects that the Republic may never have collected the data or that it supports its own argument. But no statement was announced.
A judgment can have a signaling effect. The Chamber of Labor hopes for additional payment for those who were unable to redeem the voucher.
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.
