The SPÖ once again calls for a reduction in energy prices. As in Switzerland, one could set a price based on the composition of the power sources, energy spokesman Alois Schroll and Lower Austria’s deputy governor Franz Schnabl said Wednesday. That would be possible with an amendment to the price law. The system now in use, based on the most expensive energy source, is only “politically desirable”.
Schnabl calculated that, for example, EVN generates more than half of its electricity from renewable energy sources, whose production costs have not increased. Another possibility is price caps for gas, as these are already used in France or Spain in accordance with the EU. According to Schnabl, the goal would be to at least halve the price of electricity.
Schnabl: “Too little, too late, too hesitant”
The federal government’s proposals so far have been “too little, too late, too skeptical,” Schnabl said. There are projections of double-digit inflation in the autumn, so the risk of a recession is high.
Schroll recalled the SPÖ’s demand for a temporary suspension of VAT on electricity, gas, fuel or food. There must be a legal obligation that the price reductions must be passed on. “Excess profits” from the energy companies should be skimmed off and used to offset inflation on the one hand and expand renewable energy on the other.
Missing Climate Protection Act
Schroll criticized the fact that there has been no climate protection law in Austria for 544 days and that the implementing provisions for the renewable energy extension law are still missing. The SPÖ expects more detailed information from the Energy Management Advisory Council, which met on Wednesday morning. Climate minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens), who is on the EU Environment Council in Luxembourg, will be absent from the college for the second time, criticizes Schroll, who also wants to put a parliamentary question to Gewessler about the gas supply.
Source: Krone
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