TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, editorial: “Political family silver”, by Peter Nindler

2023-12-14 23:00:14

Issue from Friday, December 15, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – Tiwag literally doesn’t want to be influenced. But as a state-owned company, it is too close to state politics, which is why the government cannot stand idly by and watch as it is drawn into Tiwag’s negative vortex.

The state energy supplier Tiwag and the Hypo Tirol Bank are, so to speak, the country’s family silverware. “Take care of the Hypo and the Tiwag,” is what the legendary Eduard Wallnöfer is said to have left as a legacy to his successors on his deathbed. Although the two companies operate operationally as stock corporations.
As long as the country’s wholly-owned subsidiaries pay their dividends to the country obediently and do not generate any negative headlines, the interaction with politics also works smoothly. After all, she shouldn’t get involved. In the past year and a half, however, Tiwag has found itself in a negative vortex due to the electricity price debate, which has dragged it down in terms of image. Ironically, more than ten years ago she saved Hypo, which was in distress at the time, with 220 million euros.
Hypo’s massive losses in Italy had put the black-red state government under pressure. Public company or not: political responsibility for the growth system that has gotten out of hand
Hypo’s policy was warned. The country had to be liable for the Hypo with up to eleven billion euros; the risk was enormous. Today it is only 133.5 million euros.
Politically, however, state politics is always liable for the family silver, even if the bank or Tiwag board members want to believe otherwise. In any case, this is currently the source of the disputes over the state energy supplier. A failed information strategy about electricity price adjustments, a complicated and non-transparent procedure for contract changes and a power plant policy that continues to be viewed as condescending or distant from the citizens have put Tiwag on the defensive. And with it the black-red state government in general and owner representatives and state governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) in particular.
AK President Erwin Zangerl and the opposition recently repeatedly called for political intervention and urgently reminded Mattle of Tiwag’s social responsibility as a state company. In times of rising prices, the price of electricity has become a political explosive. This results in a toxic mixture, especially because the Tiwag failed to finally create a positive spin.
The announcement of two board members is carried out on a rotating basis, but should be a welcome relief for Mattle. With new faces at the top, a company with negative public perception can be reformed more easily and the family silverware can be polished more quickly.