Social tariff for electricity will relieve the burden on 290,000 households from April

“Especially in times of rising energy prices, we are specifically providing relief to those people in Austria who particularly benefit from this measure,” said the Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP). “The social tariff, for example, is an effective instrument for those who particularly suffer from rising costs,” noted the State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner (ÖVP) an.

Exemption from the ORF contribution

All people who are exempt from the ORF contribution and also receive social benefits, such as care allowance, pensions, unemployment insurance benefits or social assistance, are eligible. The social tariff is granted automatically if the data is available to ORF-Beitrags Service GmbH (OBS). Eligible persons only have to report this to OBS if they change their electricity provider. Furthermore, only adult people with their main residence in Austria who meet the legal income limits receive the social tariff.

However, the price guarantee of 6 cents per kilowatt hour net only applies to the first 2,900 kWh of the year. One-person households consume an average of around 1,900 kWh, two-person households around 3,100 kWh and three-person households consume an average of around 4,700 kWh.

Lump sums for higher electricity requirements

Beneficiary households with more than three people also receive a flat rate of 52.5 euros per person per year. For electricity-intensive medical needs, such as ventilators or home dialysis, an additional lump sum can be applied for from the Ministry of Economic Affairs,

For consumption that exceeds the limit, suppliers are not allowed to charge more than the current market price level at which energy companies can buy the electricity themselves on the stock exchange.

The regulation for this tariff is initially valid for ten years. The social tariff is increased annually. The electricity industry has to bear the estimated costs of 60 million euros annually. If a certain cost limit is exceeded, the state will also contribute, noted the Ministry of Economic Affairs. As the Institute for Higher Studies (IHS) found, the social tariff also affects inflation – reducing it by 0.03 percentage points.