Vienna (OTS) – Today the federal government published the draft assessment of the Electricity Industry Act (ElWG). The new law is the national implementation of the long overdue European electricity market directive and is intended to give essential areas of the electricity industry a new lease on life. “The aim is to create a modern legal basis that will enable us to successfully manage the upcoming renewable energy expansion, to integrate new players into the system and to restore legal certainty in some important areas,” explains Barbara Schmidt, Secretary General of Oesterreichs Energie, the lobby group E-economy. “In order to achieve the energy transition, we need a modern market model that supports the development of a climate-neutral power supply.”
In principle, the e-industry largely welcomes the ElWG proposal that has now been published as an important working basis. “We have been waiting for the official draft for a long time and are pleased that important framework conditions for the necessary restructuring of the electricity system will be decided during this legislative period
“says Schmidt. In particular, the clear step towards higher pricing of services compared to work in network tariffs and the definition of new market partners are seen as positive in an initial assessment.
The industry also welcomes the establishment of a working group on the topics of basic supply, social tariffs and delivery conditions – i.e. the question of how contractual conditions between electricity suppliers and customers should be designed. “We very much hope that we can quickly reach results on this important issue and that proposals will soon be on the table that create a legally secure environment for customers and suppliers.”
Clear guidelines for tariff classification
However, the extensive bundling of competencies in the regulatory authority is seen as critical. Particularly with regard to the design of tariff classification, the legislature should provide basic guidelines that the regulatory authority and network operators can use in the future. “We know that in the past the regulator’s focus was more on cost efficiency than on expanding the network as quickly as possible,” says Schmidt.
Real acceleration instead of short deadlines
In this context, the industry is also calling for an adjustment to various very short deadlines. “It will not be possible to accelerate network expansion on paper alone. In view of the unprecedented boom in the PV sector, network operators are already working at their limits
“, so Schmidt. „Real acceleration would bring faster procedures, shorter delivery times for components and broader public support for network projects
“, said Schmidt.
The industry welcomes the first-time restriction on feed-in power, but considers the regulation to be insufficient. “PV systems, for example, only reach their maximum output for a few hours a year – expanding the networks at all levels for these rare peaks makes little economic sense and would immediately be reflected in higher network tariffs,” says Schmidt. “Especially in the spirit of accelerated expansion, we should think carefully about how we can make the best possible use of the scarce resource of network capacity.”
Free up memory
From the industry’s perspective, improvements also need to be made in other areas: By providing flexibility, pumped storage and other storage systems enable the integration of PV systems and wind power plants into the electricity system. In order to create incentives for investments in these systems, the ElWG storage system should be exempted from network fees – existing regulations should be redesigned to be technology-neutral and set a long-term framework. With regard to the situation in neighboring countries, appropriate relief would also be needed in order to avoid distortions of competition.
The e-industry will analyze the current draft law in detail in the coming weeks and contribute constructively to the ongoing discussions with its own suggestions.
Questions & Contact:
Austria’s energy
Christian Zwittnig
Press spokesman
0043 1 50198 – 260; Mobil: 0043 676 845019260
presse@oesterreichsenergie.at
www.oesterreichsenergie.at