The first electricity provider is up – how many will follow?
More and more small energy companies can no longer generate any revenue due to the sharp rise in prices on the market. The contracts are often bound for a period of up to 24 months and cannot be changed afterwards. This includes “Lidl Energie”. The Schwarz GmbH energy provider guarantees a fixed energy price on its website until the end of June 2023. Since the fluctuations on the market are so unpredictable, in such cases energy providers lose out due to extremely high costs or customers due to high additional payments.
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Customers who have signed up for so-called “floating tariffs” also have to tremble. This type of electricity contract, in which market fluctuations are passed on to the customer, has become a goldmine for smaller suppliers in recent years. They enjoy the low prices on the electricity market and pass them on to customers with a small surcharge – a win-win situation at the time. However, contract holder tariffs are particularly badly affected by the currently skyrocketing electricity prices on the market.
The Austrian Chamber of Labor (AK) reports on a particularly violent case. For example, the Upper Austrian electricity provider “Schlaustrom” used to offer “spot tariffs” where the electricity price could change hourly. Many customers were not aware of the massive effects of a missing contractual price cap – now they were billed up to 1200 euros per month for electricity.
“Schlaustrom” has now announced that it will stop supplying all customers with gas and electricity from the end of October. The big problem: For 15 (!) months, the customers’ payment difficulties had gotten so bad that a financial gap had arisen. The financial losses can no longer be compensated for in the current energy and economic crisis.
It is to be feared that other floating providers such as “Spotty” or “Felix Energie” could now get under the wheels. The Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) has not yet commented on this acute problem on the Austrian electricity market.
This article is first at express.at appeared.