VERBUND sharply rejects criticism of the Austrian Environmental Umbrella Association and demands honest discussion regarding energy system.

VERBUND Chairman of the Board Wolfgang Anzengruber sharply rejects the criticism of Gerhard Heiligbrunner, President of the Austrian Environmental Umbrella Association: "The panic mongering that is being conducted here against the backdrop of a catastrophe is simply unbelievable. Our household and industry customers receive 100% electricity generated in VERBUND hydropower plants. Dropping out of electricity wholesale would mean a step back into the time before the deregulation of the electricity market and would severely endanger Austria's supply of electricity. The criticism targeted against us is plainly dishonest."

VERBUND supplies 100 % certified electricity from hydropower to its private and business customers. In other words: VERBUND guarantees its household and business customers that precisely that amount of electricity that is consumed by them is also truly produced in TÜV-SÜD-certified VERBUND hydropower plants and fed into the public grid on their behalf.

Each individual electricity customer in Austria can thus decide which supplier they wish to use and which generation technology they are supporting in the process. The origins of the electricity – monitored by E-Control – must be stated on the end customer’s electricity invoice. VERBUND’s private and business customers pay for certified electricity from hydropower and also find a corresponding identification mark on their bill. It is for this reason that we also rightly refer to this in our publicity for end customers.

VERBUND promotes honest and factually correct discussion
Whilst domestic private customers are supplied directly by VERBUND with 100 % electricity from hydropower, the supplying of industrial customers in Austria and Germany is carried out via the subsidiary VERBUND Sales GmbH. These customers have the choice between the certified hydropower electricity and the European ENTSO-E (formerly known as UCTE) mix, originating from different types of production. Increasing numbers of companies are opting to purchase hydropower electricity. However, this (purchase) decision ultimately lies with the customer.

VERBUND accelerates the development of a modern, highly efficient and environmentally friendly energy system
With the development of such a system, greater importance is primarily given to the consistent increase in energy efficiency and the development of renewable energies and of power plants for the safeguarding of energy supply.

VERBUND already counts among Europe’s leading producers of electricity from hydropower and is continuing to invest strongly in the development of renewable energies.

Around half of the electricity generated from hydropower is now delivered directly to end customers by VERBUND. The other half is primarily sold to distribution companies, such as Austrian provincial suppliers, for supply to their customers.