Austria (OTS) – They are numbers that make you angry: Energie AG – actually a public utility – increased its profit by 45 percent in the past financial year, and Verbund was able to increase its profit by 180 percent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year and the Lower Austrian EVN has more than doubled its profits in the past financial year to half a billion euros: lots of “success stories” on the backs of consumers, who for some time have had to pay many times more for the same service and the same product than they did two or three years ago. The companies mentioned are also mostly owned by the public – i.e. by cities, federal states or the state of Austria: “This borders on robber barons – and the citizens are once again being robbed,” says MFG Upper Austria club chairman Manuel Krautgartner. He demands: “One hundred percent of every single euro of these excess profits must flow back to the customers.”
Almost 53 percent of Energie AG belongs to the OÖ Landesholding AG (and thus the state of Upper Austria or, better said, its citizens), another 14 percent to the black Raiffeisen Landesbank, 5.2 percent each to Oberbank and Verbund AG. Linz AG and thus the city of Linz also collects heavily as a 10.4 percent shareholder in Energie AG’s profits: “When I hear that even Raiffeisen and Oberbank, which are also reporting record-breaking profits in the middle of the crisis, are cashing in, even I, as an unvaccinated person, realize that I have been vaccinated,” Manuel Krautgartner points out the absurdity of this addiction to record profits.
Speaking of banks: Oberbank increased its profit before taxes in the first three quarters of 2023 from 109.2 million to 409.5 million euros. And Raiffeisen Landesbank Oberösterreich recorded a profit of almost 430 million euros in 2022, while in the first half of 2023 alone there was a profit of 410.3 million euros. These two banks are also benefiting from Energie AG’s record results. Manuel Krautgartner: “Banks and energy providers are the big winners of the crisis.”
„Can State Governor Thomas Stelzer, as Energie AG’s main shareholder, actually still look in the mirror in view of the record profits that no one other than the citizens have paid?
“ – MFG OÖ club boss Manuel Krautgartner-
It’s not much different with Verbund, which is 51 percent owned by the Republic of Austria and a further 25 percent owned by a syndicate of EVN and Wiener Stadtwerke, which in turn are 100 percent owned by the City of Vienna. And 51 percent of EVN is owned by the state of Lower Austria. At the same time, the political representatives from these federal states – from Thomas Stelzer to Johanna Mikl-Leitner to Michael Ludwig and Karl Nehammer – complain about the high energy prices from which they themselves make a lot of money. “It’s heading towards real satire”says Manuel Krautgartner.
It is indeed perverse: All shareholders of Energie AG benefit from the excess profits of 60 cents per share (a total of 53.2 million euros are distributed out of the total EBIT of 218.5 million euros), but the citizens are seen as the actual owners through their fingers – yes, worse still: they pay for these immorally high profits with their hard-earned money.
And the “climate bonus” invented by the black-green coalition that is supposed to cover high energy prices? This is not much more than a placebo to keep people quiet: on the one hand, it is only a one-off payment and, on the other hand, this bonus does not cover the additional costs for each individual – especially when you consider the additional energy costs for refueling . What a cheap, transparent game in which the state and the state of Upper Austria enrich themselves from the citizens.
„Many friends of mine have float tariffs with other providers and pay 30 percent less than with the black energy mafia
“ – MFG OÖ club boss Manuel Krautgartner-
Krautgartner finds Energie AG’s howls of jubilation in view of the record profits to be downright distasteful: “That you even dare to say something like that. Many friends of mine have float tariffs with other providers and pay 30 percent less than with the black energy mafia. And the fact that the network expansion is being financed through new network fees is the biggest outrage anyway: Why should the ‘small’ customers pay for these investments?”
And Energie AG’s announcement that there will be no price reductions despite record profits fits exactly into this picture. Manuel Krautgartner: “As the main shareholder of Energie AG, can Governor Thomas Stelzer actually still look in the mirror?”
Questions & Contact:
MFG State Parliament Club Upper Austria
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