Grid Segment

Statutory and regulatory framework in the Grid Segment

The Electricity Industry Act (ElWG), which has been under review since January 2024 and is intended to replace the previous Electricity Industry and Organisation Act 2010, was ultimately not passed in the reporting period.

The situation on the energy market, which affected all grid operators alike in terms of the procurement of grid loss energy, has now stabilised compared to the previous year. The grid utilisation fees in the electricity sector fell by between 0.2% and 3.8% compared with the previous year. This slight reduction was mainly attributable to lower upstream grid costs.

The grid utilisation fees for gas fell by 3.4% for consumers at grid level 3 and by 28.5% for consumers at grid level 2. This development is attributable to lower grid loss costs and upstream grid costs.

In the electricity sector, the fifth regulatory period began on 1 January 2024 and will again run for another five years. The regulatory authority introduced amendments to the statutory environment. The WACC key figure for new investments will now be updated annually for both the electricity sector and the gas sector. The regulatory authority set a WACC for electricity and gas of 6.33% (before taxes) for new investments in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.

There was also a change in the system for determining the adjustment of costs assignable to the grid operator price index (NPI). The Austrian National Bank’s inflation forecast for 2024 forms the basis for the NPI in 2024. Two years later, the NPI will be adjusted using the actual inflation figures.

Business development in the Grid Segment

In the reporting period, sales revenues in the Grid Segment amounted to EUR 395.9 million, representing a decrease of 8.3%. In fiscal year 2023/2024, the EBIT of the Energy Segment amounted to EUR 25.1 million, which is equivalent to a decline of 21.3%. This was attributable to declining transported volumes on both the electricity and gas grids. Besides this, personnel costs rose in the reporting period, as did depreciation, amortisation and other expenses due to the investments made.

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

The system change resulting from the energy transition is affecting the Grid Segment in almost all its fields of activity. This is why work on innovative solutions for automating and digitalising processes was intensified in the 2023/2024 fiscal year. In collaboration with other grid operators, projects were driven forward in the reporting period, including several research projects with partners from science and industry.

In the past fiscal year, gas and electricity grid operator-specific audits in accordance with ÖVGW QS-GNB200 (Quality Requirements for Gas Grid Operators) and the Group’s internal Technical Safety Management (TSM) were – for the first time – reviewed in the scope of a joint renewal audit, as the harmonisation of the electricity and gas divisions continues. Beyond this, the company already has a number of additional certifications. The audit of the information security management system (ISMS) to ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standards, in the scope of monitoring audit 2, which took place in September 2024, underlined the high level of information system security at Netz OÖ GmbH. This provides a solid basis for the planned restructuring of the energy system.

Electricity grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the electricity grid distribution volume fell by a total of 3.9% from 7,491 GWh to 7,200 GWh in the fiscal year 2023/2024. This significant decline in electricity grid distribution volumes was noticeable at all grid levels. As of 30 September 2023, the electricity unit of the Grid Segment was supplying approx. 531,000 active customer installations (previous year: 527,000).

Grid operations were challenged by snow pressure events in December 2023, with trees falling on power cables severely impacting on the electricity supply. 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.

In the 2023/2024 fiscal year, business activities focused on grid upgrade and expansion measures with a view to maintaining and securing a stable electricity supply, the integration of decentralised generation systems and the consistent implementation of the “Electricity Grid Master Plan Upper Austria 2032” (Stromnetz-Masterplan Oberösterreich 2032). Legally binding decisions are now in place issued for the “Zentralraum OÖ” (Central Region Upper Austria) project. Building work started in August 2024. In the “Mühlviertel Rohrbach – Langbruck electricity supply” project (Rohrbach – Bad Leonfelden section), the preliminary environmental impact assessment procedure was completed; the EIA was submitted at the end of May 2024. With respect to operations during the period under review, work continued on the expansion of the 380/110 kV Wagenham substation. Work on the general renovation of the 110 kV line from Steyr East to Steyr North substations has been completed. In the Grieskirchen area, building work on the Rottenbach substation is in progress.

Replacing of overhead power line sections of the medium and low-voltage grid with underground cable was continued. In the past fiscal year, 13 km of medium-voltage overhead lines and 177 km of low-voltage overhead lines were replaced by underground cables.

The 2023/2024 fiscal year saw a consistently high level of applications for connecting PV systems to the grid at around 300 applications per week. In the reporting period, there was an increase in the number of applications submitted for large scale systems in open spaces. As it was not possible to fully provide the grid capacities required for these systems at all locations, it will be necessary to carry out additional low- and medium-voltage grid construction work to create this capacity. The installed capacity from PV is around 1,300 MW (previous year: 1,014 MW) with around 72,800 connected systems (previous year: 61,700 systems).

Gas grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh

In the reporting period, gas grid sales fell to 15,762 GWh; this is equivalent to a decrease of 6.5% compared with the same period of the previous year (16,861 GWh). This decline in volumes was noticeable in both the household and industrial sectors and was attributable to both changes in the energy supply, due to the very high gas prices in the previous year, and to political decisions relating to climate protection.

The number of customers in the gas sector also declined in the past fiscal year. As with the volumes, the causes are assumed to be trends in society and political requirements, especially those relating to climate change mitigation.

Extensive upgrades were carried out at measuring and reduction stations in the 2023/2024 fiscal year. Four high-pressure natural gas pipelines over a total length of 164.7 km were investigated using intelligent pigging. Beyond this, various repairs to high-pressure pipelines were carried out in the reporting period.