Image: ROLAND SCHLAGER (APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)
As a precaution, large quantities of gas will have to be stored in Austria for protected customers in the future. In addition, operators of gas-fired power plants for electricity production will also have to maintain a safety buffer in the future. A two-thirds decision in the National Council is required for the project.
Infrastructure Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) announced the plans on Wednesday before the Council of Ministers. Specifically, reserves for 45 days must be created in the future – from October 2024. Only if it can be proven that the gas does not come from Russian sources will the obligation drop to 30 days, Gewessler said. In addition, the storage of the state strategic gas reserve will be extended until 2026.
With this measure, the federal government is implementing concrete proposals from the expert paper by Gerhard Roiss and Walter Boltz, it was emphasized. They, too, would have provided for an increased storage obligation to secure the supply.
In addition, gas customers – analogous to the electricity industry – are to have far-reaching rights vis-à-vis their suppliers, according to the Council of Ministers’ presentation. Among other things, end consumers are given the right to adjust advance payments once every six months. The statutory reporting obligations for energy suppliers to E-Control will be increased in order to improve the tariff calculator. In addition, the energy suppliers are obliged to inform all customers before the end of the contract and at least once a year that the contract is expiring or the possibility of switching and the E-Control tariff calculator.
It was said that the federal government had already taken extensive measures to store natural gas in Austria and also to diversify the gas supply last year. The next steps followed with the amendment planned by the Council of Ministers. An initiative motion should be submitted quickly for the decision-making process in Parliament – a two-thirds majority is required there.
“Last winter taught us one thing. Our supply is only secure if we take care of it ourselves,” Gewessler explained the planned new regulation. After the decision of the Council of Ministers, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) spoke in the press foyer of stricter regulations in terms of security of supply and resilience if the Russian Federation tried again to make politics with gas. In any case, the security of supply is on the right track, as the storage capacity is currently 82 percent. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) saw it as confirmation that the energy transition would bring more independence and more freedom.
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