Energy Efficiency First!
Energy efficiency is cornerstone of climate protection endeavours at the national and international level. The target for energy efficiency set by the new EU Directive states that energy consumption should be cut by at least 32.5 percent by 2030, although this target is not binding for EU member states. As Austria’s largest regional energy provider, Wien Energie attaches great importance to the issue of energy efficiency. We have carried out 1,200 individual energy consultations alone, in which measures aimed at optimising energy use are proposed, along with a whole host of other implementation measures for customers provided through energy efficiency services.
Background information
Austria has implemented the core contents of the EU Directive by means of the Federal Energy Efficiency Act (Bundes-Energieeffizienzgesetz). The law as it stands is being revised as a result new targets under EU law. As per the #mission 2030 strategy, Austria has been set the goal of improving primary energy intensity by 25-30 percent compared with 2015, which corresponds in real terms to an annual savings obligation of 0.8 percent.
Our demands
The current method of obligating providers is mainly associated with disadvantages, as the bureaucratic burden is too high and there is a lack of incentives for new measures as well as of certainty in terms of legal aspects and planning. What this means is that the targets defined for the 2021-2030 period should be met exclusively using an efficient system comprising alternative, politically strategic measures.
One specific proposal would be to make it compulsory for large companies to report energy efficiency measures that have not been subsidised. The incentive here lies in the partial refunding of the energy tax, for instance, and in the use of existing systems (e.g. the company service portal or the National Energy Efficiency Monitoring Centre (run by the Austrian Energy Agency)). This measure provides planning certainty and improves the ability of Austrian companies to compete on the market.