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18. 01. 12. - 15:00

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18. 01. 12. - 15:00

Angered AK may sue electricity suppliers

The Federal Labour Chamber (AK) has revealed it considers taking energy sector companies to court over sky-high prices.

The organisation said yesterday (Tues) it found that some of Austria’s leading electricity and gas providers failed to pass price decreases on to clients. AK officials explained the companies under scrutiny did not lower their consumer prices after significant decreases on international energy trading markets.

The AK announced it may launch lawsuits against domestic providers of electricity and gas if they refused to change their strategy in the future. The chamber said the price for electricity had jumped by 10 per cent in global trading since January. It disclosed that, while Linz AG and Austrian market leader Verbund AG froze their prices, Salzburg AG introduced a price hike of 2.4 per cent. Burgenland’s BEWAG jacked up consumer prices by 3.3 per cent, according to the AK – which identified Carinthia’s KELAG (plus 8.5 per cent) and Energie Klagenfurt (plus 8.7 per cent) as leaders of the ranking.

The AK said Wien Energie increased its gas supply price most dramatically from January 2011 to January 2012 (plus 28.7 per cent), followed by Eisenstadt-based BEGAS (plus 24.4 per cent) and Lower Austrian provider EVN AG (plus 21.5 per cent). Tyrol’s TIGAS comes fourth due to a price hike of 20.7 per cent, according to the AK’s consumer rights and information department. Klagenfurt-based KELAG also introduced a significant gas price jump in the past 12 months (plus 18.3 per cent), the AK said yesterday.

The AK appealed to Austria’s electricity and gas providers to lower consumer prices as soon as global trading prices declined. The organisation’s warning from potential court cases considering the issue followed news that heating oil prices jumped in Austria by 21.4 per cent from 2010 to 2011. Statistik Austria also found that diesel fuel was 20.4 per cent dearer last year than in 2010.

Energy services and products and car petrol were mainly responsible for last year’s inflation of 3.3 per cent. Statistik Austria said package holidays and flat rents also became more expensive while cars and computers got cheaper. Food prices rose significantly, the organisation said, adding that this development led to a 6.7 per cent increase of the price for an average Austrian household’s weekly shopping in December 2011.

The Austrian inflation was 3.2 per cent in December, meaning that products and services on offer in the country rose by 3.2 per cent on average from December 2010 to the same month in 2011. This has been the lowest increase since March 2011, according to statisticians – who stressed that consumers had to cope with immense price hikes in the previous months.

Long-term research shows that prices soared by 20.1 per cent in Austria between 1992 and 2002 when the country introduced the Euro. Prices climbed by another 19.6 per cent during the following 10 years. The price for butter declined by 13.5 per cent in the 10 years ahead of the start of the currency before it rose by 27.2 per cent until 2012. Heating oil became 42.2 per cent more expensive in the 10 years leading to the introduction of the Euro – and has climbed by another 114.4 per cent to this day.

Last year’s 3.3 per cent inflation had been the highest figure since 1993 (4.1 per cent), Statistik Austria said. Experts expect the domestic inflation to decline slightly in the next months due to Europe’s fragile economic condition.

Austrian Times

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