At the municipal energy supplier Vienna Energy Customers now pay less for electricity and gas,As already announced in spring, the price of electricity in “Optima Relaxed”-Tariff from July to net 14.9 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh).
Gas is also now cheaper, with the net price being around 5.9 cents/kWh. The energy company announced on Monday that prices would be automatically reduced for those households whose price guarantee expires in the summer.
The price adjustment therefore applies to the majority of Wien Energie customers, but not to all. For households that only signed up for a tariff in April 2024, for example, the one-year price guarantee will continue to apply until April 2025.
Prices drop by up to 55 percent
“We are passing on the positive market developments of the last few months to the people of Vienna. Wien Energie is investing an additional 50 million euros in offers this year,” said Vienna’s Finance and Economics Councillor Peter Hanke (SPÖ) according to the press release.
Last year, 340 million euros had already been spent on price reductions. Electricity and gas tariffs for small and medium-sized companies will also automatically fall in July, depending on the contract, by up to 56 percent.
Depending on the type of contract, the price of household electricity would fall by up to 55 percent, and gas would now be between 7 and 20 percent cheaper than last year. The electricity price reduction to 14.9 cents/kWh also applies to new customers of the two other providers in the Energy Alliance, EVN and Burgenland Energie, according to a press release from the Energy Alliance on Monday.
According to the press release, Wien Energie customers who commit to a further year will receive an additional discount, which will reduce the consumption price to around 12.9 cents/kWh. However, it is necessary to take action yourself. The offer is available until September 16th.
Anyone who wants to take advantage of it must actively sign up either online or through the Wien Energie customer service. The energy supplier will inform customers about this by email, letter and through advertising campaigns.
Discounts on district heating
Last year, price reductions were not only passed on to consumers by Wien Energie, but mainly in the form of discounts, on the grounds that contracts could not be changed unilaterally, even in the event of price reductions.
Now things are different: the current price reductions come about because the indices underlying the contract have fallen. “The indices would not have given rise to these reductions, which we passed on to our customers, in the previous year, which is why we worked with the discounts,” said Wien Energie boss Michael Strebl already declared at the beginning of May. Price reductions in the wholesale sector were reflected in the relevant indices, such as the Austrian electricity price index (ÖSPI)visible with a delay of about one year.
When it comes to district heating, Wien Energie is continuing the discounts from the previous year, with 140 million euros budgeted for this this year. It is still unclear whether there will be price adjustments here as well this year, said a Wien Energie spokesperson when asked about the WHATThe prices were last reduced in autumn 2023.