More than 100 euros

Upper Austria’s gas network with biggest price jump

With gas meters, as with electricity meters, grid charges are also due for the energy consumed

(Bild: Dan Race - stock.adobe.com)

Upper Austria is once again ahead of the pack - unfortunately in this case. This is because no other federal state is increasing its gas network prices as much as we are. From January, every gas customer will pay 2.47 cents - excluding tax - for one kilowatt of energy consumed. 

This value is predetermined and fixed, regardless of which retailer you buy your gas from. So you can't save here, but you can save on the working price, i.e. the purchase price of the gas itself.

30.4 percent increase
This means that for an average household that consumes 15,000 kWh of gas per year, the bill will rise by 8.6 euros per month or a good 103 euros per year. This represents an increase of 30.4 percent.

However, the E-Control regulatory commission has decided to increase the grid fees for each federal state. Depending on the province, the grid fees account for around 20 percent of the total gas bill, with the rest being accounted for by the costs of gas supply as well as taxes and levies.

5 euro average
"For an average gas-heated household with an annual consumption of 15,000 kilowatt hours, the grid fees will increase by an average of 16.6 percent or EUR 5 per month across Austria," calculates Alfons Haber, CEO of E-Control.

Lower consumption means higher grid prices
He also explains why: "The amendment to the grid usage fees is based on a volume structure with a significantly lower volume of consumption. In order to smooth out weather-related effects, the tariff volume is based on the arithmetic mean of the last three available years. Nevertheless, the quantity on which the tariff is based fell by 7.4% compared to the previous year. This is due to the reduced use of power plants and the economic downturn. However, we are also seeing a switch from gas to other energy sources in the heating sector. Costs were also influenced by inflation and increases in transmission fees."

Every province is different
"In the federal states of Upper Austria, Burgenland and Lower Austria, gas network charges are rising at an above-average rate. Here, declining volumes and higher upstream network costs have led to cost increases. The increases vary from province to province, due to the individual volume trends in the provinces," explains E-Control Executive Director Wolfgang Urbantschitsch.