Only five out of a total of 148 electricity providers on the domestic electricity market received the top rating “Driver of the future of electricity” from the environmental organizations Global 2000 and WWF, and only eleven made it into the second-best category “Solid green electricity providers”. The environmental organizations still see a “massive need for improvement” for the remaining providers, as they declared on Wednesday.
Although there is currently a choice between 131 declared “green electricity providers”, the ownership structure and business conduct are often difficult for laypeople to understand. In addition to the statutory minimum rules for electricity labeling, Global 2000 and WWF assessed the company's strategy, the expansion of renewables, the nature-friendliness of the power plants and energy-saving efforts in the “Electricity Provider Check 2020”.
According to Global 2000 energy spokesman Reinhard Uhrig and WWF energy spokesman Karl Schellmann, this check significantly increases transparency as to whether hidden coal or nuclear facilities are being co-financed. In order to cover 100 percent of the electricity demand in Austria from renewable sources by 2030, in terms of the balance sheet, a clear framework for nature compatibility and an unambiguous declaration of the origin of the electricity are necessary. Global 2000 and WWF advise switching to a committed provider in order to set an example for the demand for nature-friendly and renewable electricity.
Victory goes to Stadtwerke Murau
The best-rated “drivers of the future of electricity” make up only 0.4 percent of the electricity market, the second-best category, “solid green electricity providers”, only 2.2 percent. Of the other 23 of the 39 actively participating electricity providers – who also answered the questions asked – twelve were classified as “changing electricity providers”, making up 22 percent of the electricity market. Seven actors received the classification “electricity supplier with great challenges and little transparency” and four the label “latecomers and intransparents”. The 39 providers actively participating in the check cover 57 percent of Austria's final electricity consumption. The remaining, “non-transparent” companies could only be evaluated with some publicly available data, it said on Wednesday.
“Stadtwerke Murau” was chosen as the winner of the ranking, followed by AAE, KWG, WEB and Alpenenergie, which also received the top rating “Drivers of the future of electricity” – a group that is actively promoting the energy transition in large strides. In the second best group, “Solid green electricity providers”, which according to the check still has some improvement or catching up to do, came eFriends, E-Werk Redlmühle, Karlstrom, Polsterer Kerres Ruttin, oekostrom AG, Energie Burgenland, EVG Mitheis, E-Werk Schattwald, Stadtwerke Wörgl, Haim power plant and MeinAlpenStrom. The “Electricity Provider Check 2020” is already the third from Global 2000 and WWF;
