Edition from Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Innsbruck (OTS) – The trial surrounding Tiwag electricity prices has also shown how the state utility speculates back and forth on the energy exchange with electricity produced in Tyrol in order to increase profits. However, an important price puzzle still remained unsolved.
The judgment of the Innsbruck district court against Tiwag based on a model lawsuit filed by the AK essentially confirmed what the commercial court and the Vienna Higher Regional Court had already held with Verbund: energy companies that produce a lot of (cheap) electricity themselves cannot rely on international stock exchange prices to increase their own to increase electricity tariffs. The last word has not yet been spoken, the Verbund case is before the Supreme Court. However, corresponding clauses have already been deleted and the law has also been changed.
However, thanks in part to the judge’s precise follow-up, the Tiwag trial has shone the spotlight on Tiwag’s electricity deals and thus revealed more than one inadmissible price increase. Namely what happens to the electricity that Tiwag produces with its hydroelectric power plants in Tyrol. Anyone who previously thought that the electricity produced by the state supplier ends up directly with Tyrolean customers is wrong. Rather, Tiwag trades every megawatt hour of Tyrolean electricity several times on the energy exchange in order to increase its profits, as a Tiwag expert explained during the negotiation. It is a constant selling and buying back of the company’s own electricity, he described using an example: If the selling price on the stock exchange is highest for December, the planned generation is sold in December. If the conditions change so that the price is higher in November, for example, the December quantity that has already been sold will be bought back on the stock exchange and then sold at an even higher price for November. According to the expert, storage power plants serve to achieve the best price on the market with electricity. Some call it a permissible strategy, others call it electricity speculation to the detriment of the Tyroleans. It remains to be seen whether this model will be questioned as part of Tiwag’s realignment.
However, a key point in the dispute over cheap electricity tariffs for Tyrol’s population and the local economy remains open: How much does Tiwag cost per kilowatt hour of self-produced electricity? The AK also came to force Tiwag to be transparent here. Unfortunately, this price puzzle remains unsolved for the time being.
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