“We are active on the stock exchange to ensure the supply of our customers,” said Strebl to journalists in Vienna. There were no speculative transactions and the crisis management did not fail either. In fact, Wien Energie was “hit by a tsunami wave”.
“Horror value” emerged at short notice
Strebl, who spoke publicly about the events for the first time, emphasized that nobody could have foreseen that such high bail payments would be necessary in the short term. This is due to the sudden increase in electricity prices, which doubled out of the blue from last Thursday to Friday. This is how the “horror value” of EUR 1.75 billion in short-term liquidity requirements resulted. “I’ve been in the energy industry for 28 years, I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
However, one cannot speak of losses, said Strebl. These are normal processes, “these are deposits that we get back”. Distress was only due to the enormous size of the security services to be served on this “Black Friday”. It is true that severe turbulence on the markets had already become apparent in the course of the Ukraine war. As a result, it was also clear “that the deposits would increase,” the board admitted. In this dimension, however, this was not to be expected, not even on the part of the crisis management, which evaluated the situation and carried out various stress tests. In addition, speculative transactions at Wien Energie are strictly prohibited.
When asked why the state and not banks ultimately met the liquidity requirements, the head of Wien Energie referred to the “incredible short-term nature” of the events. The primary goal in this situation was to maintain the supply of customers.
Source: Nachrichten
