According to Economics Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP), this is a problem that is currently underestimated, but not to be underestimated. If companies based in the EU were to relocate to other countries, it would be difficult to bring them back, Kocher explained in a background discussion. In order to avoid further distortions of competition, a European approach is needed here – through joint gas purchasing and mutual support, for example. The minister also mentioned the move away from the merit order system, so that the price of electricity no longer depends solely on the expensive production costs in gas-fired power plants. However, this is only possible at the European level. The EU Commission wants to submit proposals on this. But Kocher is not going fast enough: “If things stay the way they are now, we will have to struggle with a competition problem for years to come.”
Measures are also being worked on at the national level to support companies in the face of rising energy prices. Electricity price compensation, for example, is being considered, but this will not replace the entire additional costs, but should only reduce the increase.
Electricity price cap “not the solution”
What to do against high inflation? There is no easy answer to that, says Kocher. Two thirds of the inflation are imported because of the massively high energy prices. An (electricity) price cap is not the solution to this problem. Experts would advise against interfering with the pricing mechanism. For Kocher, such interventions are doomed to fail. These would lead to supply bottlenecks, cause high costs and would not be accurate. In addition, the Austrian price law does not include electricity and gas due to EU regulations. That would mean that such a regulation could only be conceived at EU level anyway.
The minister could gain more from the planned electricity bill cover, which provides for the basic supply of energy at a secure, cheaper price at pre-war levels for every household. The concrete design should be available by the end of the summer. The cost of a broad electricity bill cover is said to amount to over one billion euros. The financing would probably have to come from the budget, which also includes distributions from the energy company Verbund.
Source: Nachrichten
