Eanty Baas Herbert Eibensteiner increases the alarm: in a letter to the government he urges the immediate introduction of partial compensation for the particularly high electricity prices for industry. They have almost all other EU countries. Otherwise De Voest should stimulate a tightened austerity course.
“We are a recession in the third year and now need help. We lose competitiveness and customers, especially in Europe, because they are not willing to bear our extra costs,” warns Herbert Eibensteiner. “Measures instead of empty words” are now necessary. Competitors in Sweden have about half of the domestic energy costs, in Brazil it is a third, in the US only one fifth. Already 14 European countries are already compensating for electricity prices for energy -intensive companies in particular. This is also coordinated with the EU or even asks the states to introduce this option. For example, Germany has guaranteed the energy costs for its industry by 2030.
We only had a fee for 2022. At that time, the people received 50 million euros back. A total of 233 million euros were budgeted, for example for the paper and chemical industry. The law would therefore be prepared and only had to be adjusted, Eibensteiner is encouraged. This is also not a gift for the companies, because in the core 75 percent of the costs for CO₂ certificates in the earlier model was reimbursed, so “the companies pay the help themselves”.
Fairly competing electricity costs are extremely important. Eibensteiner: “This is a relevant factor for further investments, which then increase value creation. Otherwise there is nothing more to distribute if you keep the economy.” In recent years, the people have only placed 3.3 billion euros on environmental measures, and the billion rods of old blast furnaces have just walked to climate -friendly electric heaters. The Linz pioneers are in the industry and do not want to be “punished” for it.
It is also clear that this will have consequences If the compensation of the electricity price does not come, the Voest -Baas is clear: “Of course we will do everything we can to stay competitive. That means that we would sharpen our efficiency programs.” The steel company alone is 23,600 jobs in Austria. In the previous year, according to its own account, the group made 2.4 billion euros in taxes and social contributions to the State, which was 1.25 percent of the total tax revenues.
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.
