The SPÖ does not want to agree to the Natural Gas Control Measures Ordinance and thus, among other things, the reactivation of the climate-damaging coal-fired power plant in Mellach on Tuesday afternoon in the main committee of the National Council. The governing parties ÖVP and Greens need a two-thirds majority in the committee for the regulation. “We are always ready to discuss,” said deputy SPÖ club chairman Jörg Leichtfried on Tuesday at a press conference in Vienna.
Last week, the Social Democrats tied their approval to several conditions, such as that additional costs arising from the conversion from gas to coal and oil may not be passed on to energy customers. The SPÖ also demands that companies that are making high profits due to the energy crisis do not receive any subsidies under the Natural Gas Control Measures Ordinance. Should there be any substantial changes, the ordinance could be “decided on next week or the week after that,” said Leichtfried.
Energy suppliers and large industrial companies in focus
Last Wednesday, the government submitted the Natural Gas Control Measures Ordinance to the Energy Control Advisory Board. The ordinance calls on energy suppliers and large industrial companies to convert to using other fuels such as coal, oil or biomass in the event of a gas shortage or a Russian supply stop. The ordinance affects, among other things, the decommissioned coal-fired power plant of the Verbund in Mellach, but also district heating power plants, such as those of Wien Energie, which are to be converted from gas to oil. The aim is to save gas if Russia turns off the gas tap completely.
“No blank check for Gewessler”
For SPÖ energy spokesman Alois Schroll, the rumored reactivation costs for the former coal-fired power plant in Mellach (Styria) are “incomprehensible”. First 20 million euros were mentioned, now 160 million euros would be in the room. “We didn’t get a definitive number,” Schroll said at the press conference. “Therefore there will be no blank check for Gewessler.” In addition, energy companies that are winners of the crisis need “no funding from taxpayers’ money,” said the SPÖ energy spokesman.
Neos, on the other hand, FPÖ approval “unlikely”
The coalition parties ÖVP and Greens need one of the two major opposition parties SPÖ or FPÖ to pass the regulation in the main committee.
For the FPÖ, today’s main committee meeting is a “reality check” for the government’s energy and sanctions policy. “She did not pass this test,” said FPÖ energy spokesman Axel Kassegger in a broadcast. “In addition, many questions have not been clarified at all and I hardly believe that the minister can even begin to answer them satisfactorily.” Kassegger described the energy policy of the turquoise-green government as “chaotic and completely wrong”. The sanctions against Russia are also a “knee shot”.
The NEOS do not want to agree to the regulation either. “Energy suppliers like EVN or Verbund are making higher profits than ever before, they certainly don’t need tax money at the moment,” said NEOS energy spokeswoman Karin Doppelbauer on Tuesday in a broadcast. The ordinance is “completely tailored to the needs of energy suppliers”.
“Irresponsible”: Gewessler criticizes SPÖ sharply
Gewessler sharply criticizes the SPÖ for their rejection, which they believe is “irresponsible and unworthy of a social democratic party”. In an emergency, Mellach could supply 260,000 households with energy and heat, but the ordinance is a legal requirement for this, otherwise the association would not be able to create the technical requirements for a possible restart. The SPÖ also agreed to the basis, namely the Energy Control Act, and there it is clearly regulated that companies who are ordered to carry out conversions to switch from gas to coal, oil or even biomass will receive a reimbursement of costs.
Club officials August Wöginger from the ÖVP and Sigi Maurer from the Greens also criticized the SPÖ’s planned voting behavior as “grossly irresponsible”.