ElWG: Question Marks Before Vote

As of Tuesday, none of the opposition parties in question - FPÖ or Greens - had signaled their approval. The government once again called on both to agree to the so-called "Cheaper Electricity Act."

FPÖ expresses anger

The Freedom Party expressed anger at a press conference over the actions of the ruling parties ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS. The FPÖ had agreed with the coalition parties last Friday on several dates in December and January for negotiations on the new electricity market law, said FPÖ energy spokesman Axel Kassegger on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly thereafter, ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS held a press conference and called on the opposition parties to agree within the week.

"It gives the impression that the government wants to push this through (...), without addressing the demands of the Freedom Party," said Kassegger. He speculated about a possible approval by the Greens for the electricity market reform and accused them of becoming "stepping stones." The Greens themselves were not yet ready on Tuesday morning to help the proposal achieve the necessary two-thirds majority, as club chairwoman Leonore Gewessler explained at a press conference.

According to Gewessler, there were still intensive discussions over the past long weekend, and she had also spoken with Chancellor Christian Stocker and Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (both ÖVP) by phone. It became clear: "Further negotiations are needed." Whether the legislative decision will have to be postponed to January or whether it might still be passed in the National Council this week - with further government concessions - was left open by the Greens leader.

"Significantly accommodating the opposition"

"As a government, we have already addressed concerns, worries, and issues multiple times, revised the law several times, and made significant concessions to the opposition," Energy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer and Energy State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner (both ÖVP) declared in a statement. They appealed to the opposition parties to "take responsibility and seek compromise."

Waiting until Christmas cannot be the approach, SPÖ parliamentary group leader Philip Kucher emphasized at a coalition press conference. Voters of the FPÖ and the Greens also expect energy to become cheaper, said his counterpart at the NEOS, Yannick Shetty. ÖVP parliamentary group leader August Wöginger specifically appealed to the Greens, to whom they had already made concessions. It was planned to exempt smaller installations with a capacity of less than seven kilowatts (kW) from feed-in fees. Now, the number has been increased to 15 kW, he cited as an example.

Withdrawal of Financing Offers

Meanwhile, the renewable energy sector fears a significant deterioration in financing conditions for new projects. As reported by the "Presse" today, some banks are already withdrawing financing offers for new wind and solar parks due to "unpredictable risks." Seven such cases are known to him, said IG Windkraft Managing Director Florian Mahringer to the APA. One reason is the feed-in tariffs provided for in the Electricity Market Act, which are to be set annually by E-Control. This creates great uncertainty. Capping these amounts by law would not solve the problem, as this would be on shaky legal ground under European law and could therefore be overturned by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Not considered in the new ElWG, but occasionally discussed, is the consolidation of power grids to reduce network costs. The Association of Austrian Electricity Companies (VÖEW) is clearly against such measures. A consolidation of smaller network operators does not mean cost savings, "but on the contrary, brings massive disadvantages for around one million electricity customers and affected regions," according to the industry representation.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.