Grid Segment

Statutory and regulatory framework in the Grid Segment

At the beginning of the reporting period, the situation on the energy market continued to provoke rising costs for the procurement of grid loss energy. This prompted the regulatory authority to increase the grid utilisation fees for electricity by between 35.8% and 72.6% as of 1 January 2023. Austria's National Council decided to make a cost-reducing contribution towards grid loss charges for supply systems for 2023 in order to reduce the burden on customers. The major share of the increase in grid loss charges was subsequently cushioned by the government's subsidy, as well as the downward trend in market prices in the meantime, and tariff levels were reduced accordingly as of 1 March 2023. Compared with the previous year, the grid utilisation fees therefore increased by between 5.6% and 10.3% from 1 March 2023, with different tariffs now being applied for consumers and suppliers.

The grid utilisation fees in the gas sector rose by 23.5% for consumers at grid level 3 and by 40.8% for consumers at grid level 2. This significant increase was again prompted by higher grid loss costs and higher upstream grid costs.

The fourth regulatory period in the gas sector began on 1 January 2023 and will run for another 5-year period. In the 2022/2023 fiscal year, one focus in the Grid Segment was the initiation of the cost determination process for the fifth electricity regulatory period. In addition to wide-ranging requirements and queries from the authorities, expert meetings were held to discuss and define the parameters for the fifth regulatory period.

Business development in the Grid Segment

In the reporting period, sales revenues in the Grid Segment amounted to EUR 431.7 million, representing an increase of 10.1%. In fiscal year 2022/2023, the EBIT of the Energy Segment amounted to EUR 31.9 million, which is equivalent to a decline of 29.6%). This was primarily due to lower transported volumes on both the electricity and gas grids as well as to higher grid loss costs and upstream grid costs. These were only partially offset by the regulatory increase in grid utilisation fees. Besides this, the investments made prompted rises in depreciation and amortisation in the electricity and gas grids and other expenses.

Electricity and gas grid as the backbone of the Upper Austrian supply infrastructure

In the past fiscal year, Netz Oberösterreich GmbH (Netz OÖ GmbH) was the first Austrian gas grid operator to be audited in line with ÖVGW-QS-GNB 300 (quality requirements for gas grid operators for calorific value determination). The aim is to establish a binding and comprehensible procedure for determining and billing for calorific values when gases with different calorific values are fed in. Beyond this, the company already has a number of existing certifications. The audit of the information security management system (ISMS) to ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standards confirmed the high level of information system security at Netz OÖ GmbH. This provides a solid basis for the planned restructuring of the energy system.

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the electricity grid distribution volume fell by a total of 7.7% from 8,118 GWh to 7,491 GWh in the fiscal year 2022/2023. A significant decline in electricity grid distribution volume at all grid levels was noticeable. As of 30 September 2023, the electricity business unit of the Grid Segment supplied approx. 527,000 active customer installations (previous year: 522,000).

In the reporting period, a sequence of several thunderstorms in the months July and August 2023 posed a challenge for grid operations. It was not only the individual events themselves, but also the number of consecutive events in this period of time that placed a strain on the response teams. In this situation, the 110 kV high-voltage grid once again proved to be the strong and reliable backbone of the Upper Austrian electricity supply.

Electricity grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh

In the 2022/2023 fiscal year, grid activities focused on both grid upgrade and expansion measures to maintain and secure a stable electricity supply, and on the consistent implementation of the “Electricity Grid Master Plan Upper Austria 2032” (Stromnetz-Masterplan Oberösterreich 2032). The environmental impact assessment (EIA) hearing was held for the “Central Region Upper Austria Electricity Supply” project. A mandatory EIA was imposed for the “Mühlviertel, Rohrbach – Langbruck Electricity Supply” project. The “Wagenham Grid Support”, “Rottenbach Substation” and the “General Renovation of Steyr North – Steyr East” projects are currently in the implementation phase.

Replacing of overhead power line sections of the medium and low-voltage grid with underground cable was continued wherever expedient. 29 km of medium-voltage overhead lines and 135 km of low-voltage overhead lines were replaced by underground cables during the reporting period.

In the calendar year 2023, the very large number of grid connection applications for decentralised electricity generation systems or, more specifically, for PV systems, posed a major challenge again. It proved impossible to provide 100% of the required grid capacity – it will be necessary to create this capacity through additional low- and medium-voltage grid construction work. The installed capacity from PV is around 1,014 MW (previous year: 589 MW) with around 61,700 connected systems (previous year: 39,300 systems).

Particular attention was paid to optimising the customer interface. In addition to a wide range of new digital offerings on the online web portal, a decision was reached to implement a grid-specific customer competence centre.

In the reporting period, the gas grid distribution volume fell to 16,861 GWh and therefore by 13.9% compared to the same period of the previous year (19,592 GWh). This decline in volumes had an impact on both the industrial and household sectors and was influenced by the very high gas prices and what was a fairly mild winter.

The number of customers in the Gas unit declined in the past fiscal year. The causes are assumed to be trends in society and political requirements, especially relating to climate change mitigation.

Extensive upgrades were carried out at three reduction stations in the 2022/2023 fiscal year. A high-pressure natural gas pipeline with a total length of 3.6 km was investigated using smart pigging. Beyond this, various repairs to high-pressure pipelines were carried out in the reporting period.

Gas grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh