Power From Austria for The Municipal Utilities of Leipzig At Last
An important partial package of the power supply for the municipal utilities of Leipzig, one of the largest municipal utilities in the newly-formed German states, has been settled: After lengthy legal proceedings which took nearly two years and a judgment of second instance by the Court of Appeal in Berlin, VEAG has opened its grid for the transmission of VERBUND power generated in hydropower plants in Austria with effect from July 1, 2001.
VEAG had not been willing to accept the fact that the municipal utilities of Leipzig changed to VERBUND, Austria’s largest power producer and transporter, and other suppliers outside the newly-formed German states with effect from 01-01-2000 and had tried to prevent the transmission of foreign power, referring to the “lignite protection of interest clause”.
"Sensational" is the term used by Dr. Guenther Rabensteiner, Managing Director of the VERBUND subsidiary APT-Austrian Power Trading Deutschland GmbH, in describing this recent success. VERBUND was one of the first power suppliers to succeed in breaking up the “lignite protection of interest clause” and is thus one of the first companies to supply its own power to a supplier to third party in the newly-formed German states.
"This situation finally enables the municipal utilities of Leipzig to procure power under conditions of free competition now ", said Wolfgang Wille, Managing Director of the municipal utilities of Leipzig. "The fact that we buy power from VERBUND as well as the 3-year-contract concluded with VEAG at the end of last year show the new flexibility of VEAG, which can also be a basis for further intensive cooperation with these partners. This development will also have a positive effect on Leipzig as an attractive business location and the Leipzig Power Exchange as well as Kom-Strom ".
To VERBUND this success means an important extension of its basis in the market of this region. In the past, Austria’s leading power producer focused primarily on southern and central Germany. Since the opening of the power market VERBUND has concluded contracts with German municipal utilities and industrial undertakings comprising a total of nearly 5 billion kilowatt hours.