The state-owned warmth and fuel supplier for Vienna, Wien Energie, will keep away from buying Russian fuel and guarantee none is bought to its clients from 2025, in response to a press release on Friday (13 September).
Wien Energie is the only largest purchaser and distributor of pure fuel in Vienna, supplying energy, fuel and warmth to 2 million clients, together with 460,000 households with district heating.
“Anybody who purchases fuel or warmth from Wien Energie can make certain that it isn’t getting used to finance Russia’s struggle,” stated Michael Strebl, chair of the board of the corporate.
Guaranteeing no Russian fuel is bought will contain prices within the single-digit thousands and thousands of euros because of the want to change up provide contracts, which the corporate says it won’t cross on to its clients.
This places Vienna forward of the remainder of the nation, which at present has no concrete phase-out plans for Russian fuel.
In July, Austria acquired 83% of its fuel from Russia, with the nation importing round six billion cubic metres a yr, implicitly serving to the Kremlin fund its struggle on Ukraine.
A current replace of the nationwide safety technique confirmed an EU-wide dedication to interchange Russian fuel by mid-2027.
Vienna’s utility firm final made EU information for its current pioneering efforts to advertise geothermal vitality in massive cities, in addition to through the 2022 vitality disaster, when it virtually went bust resulting from a scarcity of hedging towards worth spikes.
[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Alice Taylor-Braçe/Daniel Eck]
