WKSTA must investigate – price increase: criminal complaint against energy company

In a statement of facts to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKSta), the Vienna-based consumer protection organisation calls for the initiation of fraud proceedings against EVN: Before gas prices were increased by up to 500 percent, customers could have switched to cheaper providers if they had been informed in good time. However, this information is not intended to be provided in a legally compliant manner.

Suspicions of fraud must be investigated
The association is asking the authorities to investigate whether EVN’s actions constitute a criminal offence of fraud within the meaning of Article 146 of the Criminal Code. “EVN used deliberate deception to persuade its customers not to do so (termination and change of supplier), which damaged the customer’s assets and led to EVN’s unjust enrichment,” the letter said.

This is how the energy company works
The union’s allegations are nothing new in themselves: there has been a dispute about the tariff increase and the provision of information for a year and a half. “When the contract was signed, our customers had the opportunity to decide for themselves how they wanted to be informed about upcoming increases,” EVN spokesman Stefan Zach explains. The tariff in question was linked to the development of the Austrian electricity and gas price index and was adjusted upwards or downwards once a year.

“Due to disruptions in the wholesale markets caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there was an increase in indices and a corresponding increase in rates during the period in question,” the report continues. In connection with such automatic price changes, it was not until the summer of 2023 that the legislator issued rules defining the information for customers in more detail. Previously, this was left to the contractual arrangement between the company and the customer. Zach: “EVN adhered to these rules.”

Accusations “plucked out of thin air”
Courts have also already stated that customers should expect price increases in the autumn of 2022 due to the general situation, especially for a product with automatic price adjustment. “The accusation of criminal offenses is therefore completely unrealistic,” the EVN spokesperson clarifies.

Investigation questionable, timing suspicious
However, a report is not yet a conviction: the fact that the WKStA has received a statement of facts with the request to process a criminal complaint does not mean that it will start an investigation. As usual, the authorities do not like to see the cards. It is also unclear why the consumer protection association has filed a statement of facts today – some one and a half years after the increase.

State policy responds with criticism
The ad is of course a bull’s eye for the Lower Austrian SPÖ, which has repeatedly targeted the state energy supplier in recent months. “EVN, controlled by black and blue, made a profit of 530 million euros last year. The population has nothing of this, but there is a new luxury building for 600,000 euros. Because Black and Blue would rather rob people than give the money back to the population,” says State Councillor and State Chairman Sven Hergovich. However, he is critical of the association’s working methods and would rather fight politically for low energy costs than with legal proceedings: “Because Lower Austria will decide for low EVN prices and against black and blue at the next state elections at the latest.”