The sharp rise in energy prices is not only affecting households, but is also causing problems for many companies. Upper Austria’s Chamber of Commerce President Doris Hummer calls on the federal government to react and reduce the tax burden on electricity and natural gas. “It has to happen quickly. The costs have increased massively in some cases,” says Hummer in an interview with the OÖ Nachrichten.
“When it comes to electricity, we are even struggling with price increases of up to 200 percent in the commercial customer segment. Hardly any company has taken these cost increases into account, let alone can they be passed on at this level,” says Hummer. And in the gas sector, wholesale prices have quintupled in a very short space of time. Add to that the rise in oil prices.
If you can’t pass on the prices, you have to cut production so that the costs don’t outrun you. It is therefore high time for politicians to react, says Hummer. Otherwise an upward spiral in prices would jeopardize the economic recovery of the national economy.
She refers, for example, to the composition of the electricity price in Austria. The pure energy costs are therefore a good third, the network costs 25 percent. The remaining almost 40 percent are taxes and duties – from sales tax to electricity taxes. In the medium term, the price of electricity will fall again through investments in renewable energy sources, faster approval processes and more energy storage. But in the short term, measures are needed now.
also suspend taxes
The Chamber of Commerce could imagine that the sales tax would be reduced from 20 to ten percent, one could also intervene in the network fees and reduce them at least temporarily. To this end, rapid financial assistance is required in accordance with EU state aid law. Electricity and natural gas taxes could also be reduced or suspended altogether.
Source: Nachrichten
