12. Other operating expenses

Taxes mainly include the energy crisis contribution for electricity, property tax, dumpsite levy and electricity levy, as well as the Austrian landfill tax. The expenses incurred for the Group auditor, Deloitte Audit Wirtschaftsprüfungs GmbH, for auditing services and other accounting services provided to the entities of the Energie AG Oberösterreich Group amount to EUR 722.3 thousand (previous year: EUR 597.5 thousand). In addition, the Group auditor provided other consulting services for the Energie AG Oberösterreich Group totalling EUR 37.9 thousand (previous year: EUR 0.4 thousand).

Other expenses primarily include allocations to provisions, transaction costs, marketing expenses and fees.

Following the expiry of a price guarantee for electricity customers issued by Energie AG Oberösterreich Vertrieb GmbH, a price adjustment was made in January 2023 in response to a sharp rise in procurement costs. Against the backdrop of the uncertain legal situation within the entire industry due to the new price adjustment regulations for electricity, Energie AG and special interest groups have agreed to refrain from filing lawsuits in exchange for a one-off payment, thus avoiding a protracted legal dispute. The customers affected by the electricity price increase implemented on 2 January 2023 receive a one-off payment of EUR 25.00, EUR 50.00 or EUR 100.00, depending on their consumption. In the previous year, other operating expenses included an amount of EUR 20.5 million to reflect this.