2023-07-28 02:04:00
Sharply increased purchase prices and new challenges for the grid due to the further sharp increase in the number of photovoltaic systems are currently putting the E-Werk Perg, which is owned by the municipality, under massive pressure. “The situation in the energy industry is unprecedented. The electricity market will never be the same once more,” says Managing Director Helmut Puchmayr.
As a small market player who is also responsible for security of supply, E-Werk finds itself in a difficult position: “We can neither come up with up-to-the-minute bait offers nor cross-finance company divisions with each other in order to get supposedly cheap private customer tariffs.” He understands that long-standing regular customers express their anger regarding the tariffs (52 cents at the beginning of the year, 46 cents per kWh since April). But these are the result of serious calculations. In autumn, when the daily prices were particularly high, no one was given notice. Puchmayr: “That’s not our approach. As a public utility, security of supply is our top priority.” This can be seen in the power outages: Thanks to ongoing investments, these only occur rarely and are resolved following an average of 20 minutes.
Was electricity nevertheless purchased for 2023 at the worst possible time last year? In retrospect, the purchase was too expensive, says Puchmayr. However, the highest prices were asked in July and August, while the additional purchases for the quantities required this year did not take place until the end of October. Unfortunately, negotiations with suppliers to adjust falling wholesale prices have not led to any result. So he has to ask customers to be patient. He might only promise a significant tariff reduction for the first quarter of 2024.
Customer churn numbers
Puchmayr rejects rumors that E-Werk has lost a third of its customers since the beginning of the year. About every tenth customer has quit. One strives for every single customer, offers advice on funding opportunities. Thanks to the federal government’s electricity price brake, which will apply until June 2024, an average household in Perg will only pay ten cents net without fees anyway.
Since May, the E-Werk has had to put off the installers of new photovoltaic systems who want to feed their surpluses into the grid. That too will not be possible until further notice: “Linz Netz has instructed us in writing that this is no longer possible due to capacity problems in the Mauthausen and Baumgartenberg substations.” The construction of PV systems for self-consumption is still possible. Why are owners of PV systems from Linz Netz supply regions still allowed to feed in? Puchmayr does not want to comment publicly on this.
The photovoltaic boom in the region brought E-Werk Perg into the unprecedented situation that since the end of May practically no more electricity from its own Naarn hydroelectric power plants can be sold. This revenue is missing from the balance sheet – one of the reasons why the current financial year will probably end with a big minus. In the quarterly report before the municipal council last week, the number of 3.5 million euros was mentioned. That too is unique. Puchmayr: “It is our job to react to the strong seasonal fluctuations and not jeopardize the security of supply.”
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