There is also an electricity bonus of 40 euros for households, and low-income customers receive 120 euros. The amount will automatically be taken into account in the next annual accounts, it said after the Supervisory Board meeting on Friday.
“Six million euros will flow into this electricity bonus,” says Illwerke board member Helmut Mennel. The 40 euros correspond to the monthly energy costs of an average household. In addition, the company wants to reward customers who achieve savings compared to the previous annual financial statements with a broad-based energy saving campaign starting in the fall. They should be rewarded with cash. Reducing consumption is an important prerequisite for the energy transition.
“Part of the special dividend goes into the extensive anti-inflation package that we presented this week,” said state governor Barbara Schöbi-Fink (ÖVP). In addition, they want to use it to advance projects in energy autonomy and ecologization.
Financial power needed for investments
Investments in hydropower, photovoltaics and other renewables are urgent, says CEO Christof Germann. However, these forms of energy also make the energy system more volatile. Illwerke/VKW makes a significant contribution to ensuring that security of supply remains guaranteed despite the increasing share of renewables. “Our pumped-storage power plants are able to flexibly balance out the fluctuations between generation and consumption,” says Board Member Mennel. Balancing energy is therefore the most valuable form of electricity and is therefore in demand on the market.
According to Germann, most of the income of around EUR 136 million (after taxes) was generated on the European control energy market. “Supplies to end customers in Vorarlberg are currently not making any positive contributions to earnings,” says the Board of Management. In the future you need the financial strength for investments. By 2030, around two billion euros will be invested in new construction and maintenance of the plants, not counting the planned mammoth Lünersee II power plant with a volume of another two billion euros. Illwerke/VKW recorded sales of EUR 917 million in the 2021 financial year, and the equity ratio was 73 percent.
Source: Nachrichten
