As more and more people in Austria replace their gas heating, it becomes increasingly expensive for the remaining consumers. This is because the price consists of consumption and network costs. The fewer customers there are, the greater their share of the costs in the network.
The energy suppliers talk about additional costs of around 60 euros per year in the future. “A smaller gas network is a cheaper network,” Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) said on Tuesday in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal.” Therefore, efforts are now being made to downsize the network to save costs. The supervisory authority E-Control must supervise this.
An amendment to the Gas Industry Act is still pending. However, care must be taken to ensure that a few consumers do not bear the full cost, Gewessler said. For example, if you have a rental apartment, you are not allowed to change the heating without the landlord’s permission.
72,000 switch to other heating systems
Over the past 22 months, around 72,000 people have replaced their gas heating; this was financed with a maximum amount of 15,000 to 23,000 euros, depending on the type of heating. According to the ministry, only a few applications have been rejected.
The gas network in Austria currently includes 2,000 kilometers of long-distance pipelines and 44,000 distribution lines. In the longer term, only a fraction of this would remain. Last year the population used 75 terawatt hours of gas. The decommissioning plans were adopted at European level in May; this provision must first be transposed into national law.
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.
