Regional responsibility

In line with its regional responsibility, the Energie AG Group supports institutions and projects with economic relevance, charitable and non-profit organisations, activities such as humanitarian and social initiatives, and academic and education projects.

With the Energy Saving Package campaign, Energie AG takes initiative for socially disadvantaged groups. For further information, see Environment, Energy Segment, Sales.

To express its solidarity with customers facing financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group offered them special arrangements for financial relief.

Energie AG creates additional value for its customers by being present at trade fairs and other regional events where well-trained energy consultants give personal advice on the environmentally friendly use of energy.

Market partnerships are another way in which Energie AG fulfills its regional responsibilities. The close alliance with relevant specialist companies across Upper Austria assures the availability of expert advice and help with energy-related questions for customers in their respective home towns and villages. Together with these local companies, Energie AG offers its customers various initiatives and attractive incentives to save energy.

Energie AG supports cultural and sport activities on a regional level, including by sponsoring local events, sport promotion programmes (“Energie AG sports family”) and online fitness services.

The high-performance fibre-optic internet connections provided by Energie AG give the residents of rural, less developed regions the opportunity to pursue an occupational activity (working from home).

The Group uses the new digital technologies to create additional value for its customers in their direct living environment. The peer-to-peer app “sharing the sun” (“d'Sun teil'n”), for example, allows the owners of private photovoltaic systems to exchange electricity with interested parties in the nearby regional vicinity. A digital application initiated by Netz OÖ that allows customers to check their electricity consumption on their smartphones in real time and identify energy-inefficient devices in their homes has entered the testing phase in the spring months of 2020.

The continuous training of specialist personnel, the creation and preservation of jobs, ongoing infrastructure investments and a sustainable corporate policy with local electricity production are important contributions to increasing value generation in the regions.

Energie AG supports charitable organisations in their regional and interregional activities. These activities include a cooperation with the company wasserkarte.info, which created an online platform that shows fire brigades the quickest way to the best suited hydrant that can be used as a source for fire fighting water. This initiative is currently being continued in the Czech Republic under the lead of Energie AG Bohemia. The app “SystemFlorian” was made available to fire brigades in the Kolin district in early 2020.

Orders worth a total of EUR 204 million were placed with 2,213 suppliers in the 2019/2020 fiscal year (previous year: EUR 208 million with 2,177 suppliers). 92.3% of the Company's suppliers were headquartered in Austria (previous year: 84.1%), while 7.6% were based in other European countries (previous year: 15.8%).

Official hotline of the State of Upper Austria

At its call centre, Energie AG operates the Upper Austria crisis and disaster hotline in order to provide an information and communication platform to the public. In the event of an emergency, the emergency services dispatch a liaison to the call centre, who ensures that information is relayed to the public-safety answering point. Energie AG is maintaining close contact with the crisis management of the State of Upper Austria during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in the spring of 2020, provided the Red Cross with workstations and adequate technical equipment housed in separate premises.

Cultural and social affairs

Energie AG supports a host of initiatives in the cultural and social realm. On the cultural scene, the Company has been partner of the Höhenrausch/Sinnesrausch project in Linz for a number of years, and exhibitions are regularly held in Linz’s Power Tower.

The Klemens-Brosch Award in cooperation with the State Gallery in Linz, the “Talent Promotion Award” in cooperation with the University of Arts in Linz, and the “Dream Scholarship” in cooperation with OK Friends are additional ways in which the Energie AG Group supports young and talented artists.

In addition, Energie AG has been a long-standing partner of many cultural initiatives throughout Upper Austria, including the Upper Austrian Regional Exhibition, Salzkammergut Festwochen summer festival, St. Florianer Sängerknaben boys’ choir and Brucknertage festival. As a partner of the Red Cross and volunteer fire brigade, the Energie AG Group makes an effort to support rescue organisations with a high level of voluntary commitment.

Timelkam Energy Experience Centre

In the town of Timelkam, Energie AG runs an information centre about electrical energy called the Erlebniswelt Energie Timelkam (“Timelkam Energy Experience”), which in the 2019/2020 fiscal year was visited by almost 1,000 interested children and parents. Annual visitor numbers were around the 5,000 mark in earlier years (without COVID-19 pandemic restrictions). The facility is constantly being upgraded to include new technologies, with sections on digitalisation and apprentices added in the last two years. Workshops for schools and the “Start of School Festival” have been held at the centre or on its grounds for the last six years.

Sports

Following the motto “sport is energy”, the Energie AG Group has been supporting top athletes and amateurs alike across Upper Austria since 2000 – the “sports family”. In the 2019/2020 fiscal year, once again 16 athletes of the Energie AG sports family (previous year: 15) received financial assistance as well as other benefits of relevance for their sport, such as physiotherapy, equipment etc. The focus is on promoting up-and-coming talents in the world of sport.

Enhancing awareness

Raising awareness of sustainability, energy and the environment among young people has been a cause that the Energie AG Group has embraced in a major way. In this spirit, the Group has consistently supported initiatives by youth organisations. A conscious and careful relationship with nature and the environment is one of the worldwide scout movement’s eight educational focal points. For many years, Upper Austria’s scouts, the Pfadfinder, have been implementing targeted environmental projects with the support of the Energie AG Group and the State of Upper Austria (acting on the motto “taking responsibility for tomorrow!”).

The “Energie AG at School” education programme (Energie AG macht Schule) offers kindergartens and schools different classroom handouts for the relevant age groups. These cover topics related to energy, sustainability and digitalisation. The new class materials are available for primary school years 3 and 4 (ages 8-10), as well as for middle-school pupils in either of Austria’s state school models (ages 10-14). In 2019, as one of only eight companies in Austria, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Women, Families and Youth awarded Energie AG the Familie Digital Kompetent (“Family Digital Skills”) seal of approval for this educational programme and its expansion in particular.

Energie AG takes initiative in strengthening the media competency of children and adolescents in the area of digitalisation and has added relevant materials to the website www.wir-denken-an-morgen.at and materials used in schools. The objective is to teach children how they can use the new technologies sensibly and responsibly and take a proper and critical approach to the contents of digital media. The platform is complemented by interactive quizzes, videos and instructions for practical exercises and experiments that aim at familiarising young persons with digitalisation in a playful way.

Around 250 children were introduced to the concept of a sustainable circular economy at the occasion of the “ARA4Kids” recycling day organised by Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA, Waste Recycling Austria) in cooperation with Energie AG in October 2019. Different play exhibits allowed the children to explore the ins and outs of waste collection, separation and incineration.

In addition, the Group has a selection of short books for the youngest programme participants, which cover a wide range of topics relating to energy and sustainability. The latest book, now the eighth, was published in 2019 and deals with the issues of separating waste and preventing littering. It is available upon request to private individuals, schools and kindergartens free of charge. Including the latest release, 330,000 copies of these short books are already in circulation (previous year: 250,000).

In 2014, Energie AG began its educational programme for Czech primary and junior secondary school pupils with titles such as DOODPADU – was nicht in den Abfluss gehört (“DOODPADU – Don’t Put That down the Drain”) and Die Toilette ist kein Mülleimer (“Your Toilet isn’t a Dustbin”), which aim to protect our natural environment and water resources. The Group promotes awareness of how to properly dispose of rubbish by providing customised classroom materials for primary schools and creative projects for older pupils. The project was continued in fiscal year 2019/2020, but with some restrictions stemming from the closure of schools due to the pandemic.

Respect for the environment and a commitment to a green and efficient business model are guiding principles that underpin Energie AG’s ethos. The Energie AG Group has supported the Energy Globe environmental award for some 20 years. Since its founding, more than 25,000 environmental projects have been submitted for consideration. Every year, Austria ranks among the top performers, underlining the country’s role as a “world champion” in the area of sustainability.

Energy Institute of Johannes Kepler University Linz

Science and research have traditionally been accorded high value at Energie AG. One area in which this is evident is the long-standing partnership with the Energy Institute (Energieinstitut) at Johannes Kepler University in Linz. As a founding member, the Company actively participates in shaping and further improving the institute, as well as drawing on its high level of expertise in energy-related areas and its interdisciplinary team. Energie AG commissions studies from the institute on a consistent basis and works together closely with it on research projects. A good example is a study for the electricity grid master plan project “Mühlviertel Electricity Supply”, for which the Energy Institute developed and analysed consumer scenarios for this region. The study was used to derive future demand forecasts, which were then used to make a decision with regard to the system selection for the 110-kV supply line.

“Vodní Kapky” / Waterdrops Project

Energie AG is also living up to its social responsibility in the Czech Republic Segment, supporting social activities as part of the Vodní kapky (“Waterdrops”) project. This includes the establishment of Young Caritas CZ with the aim of promoting volunteering among young people. Also in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, the Czech Republic Segment supported Young Caritas CZ events in České Budějovice. As part of its social commitment, the Czech Republic Segment donates one Czech heller (one hundredth of a koruna) for each cubic metre of drinking water Energie AG companies deliver to households in the country. These funds are made available to selected non-government organisations (NGOs) for their projects via the so-called “philanthropy exchange”. Energie AG also assumes social responsibility by financially supporting projects that improve the lives of disadvantaged people or families.

Federation, Association and Organisation Memberships

Energie AG is a member of various associations and representative groups related to its operational activities, both in Austria and abroad. The Company's employees also play a role in various bodies, committees and working groups within these organisations. All Energie AG’s employees can benefit from these memberships, which allow them to receive newsletters, participate in events and webinars, and access online portals, publications, studies, models, analytical findings and more.

Alongside its long-standing memberships in the Austrian Energy Industry Association, the representative group for Austrian energy utility companies, the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) and the Austrian Economic Chambers (WK), Energie AG is also a member of the Upper Austria Business Hub Initiative (IWS), which promotes Upper Austria as a business location by providing basic research, studies, investigations and media work.

In addition, Energie AG is a member of Austrian Energy Agency GmbH (AEA) – the country’s national centre of excellence for energy, as well as the German Association of the Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). Both associations work on topics of interest to utilities, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, sector coupling, etc.

The OÖ Energiesparverband (“Upper Austrian Energy-Saving Association”) is a body instituted by the State of Upper Austria that has been the central point of contact for product-independent energy information since 1991. Energie AG has been a member of the association since its founding and collaborates closely with it in areas including energy consultancy and promotional funding.

Energie AG's membership of the Verein für Ökologie und Umweltforschung (Association for Ecology and Environmental Research; VÖU) offers it a platform for an exchange of information on matters of common interest between the energy industry and applied ecological and economic research experts. The association works on complex energy and environmental issues, such as renewable energy sources, resource efficiency and approval issues for energy infrastructure projects, while promoting interdisciplinary solutions.

Energie AG has been a member of the Energy Centre České Budějovice, an energy information centre in České Budějovice supported by the State of Upper Austria and the Region of South Bohemia, since 1998. The centre's priority areas are offering support for the implementation of energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energies. Since 2002, Energie AG has also been a member of the Fachgruppe Energie (Energy Working Group), which aims for cross-border cooperation in the energy sector between Upper Austria and South Bohemia. The working group supports cross-border projects and provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience.