A thousand homes in Salzburg will be without electricity starting Monday.
Salzburg AG energy company announced that it will cut electricity to about 1,000 homes starting Monday, March 17, as part of what it described as a "targeted blackout" for some of its customers, and not due to unpaid bills or technical failures.
The main reason for this decision is the expiration of the old contracts that were signed before 2023, which will end on February 28, 2025. The owners of these contracts had to transition to new contracts with the company or choose another provider. After more than two weeks of the grace period, several customers did not respond to these changes despite repeated notifications.
Salzburg AG explained that the cancellation of electricity price support (Strompreisbremse), the adjustment of network fees, and the reapplication of environmental taxes made it necessary to adjust contracts, as prices will increase significantly. Therefore, the company has offered a special deal since the beginning of the year called the "electricity price cap" (Strompreisdeckel) at a price of 10 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 1000 kilowatts annually, which provides up to 500 euros annually for an average consumption household.
The company indicated that 99.62% of customers have actually transitioned to the new tariff. As for the remaining customers, they ignored all attempts to communicate, as six written messages (including recorded messages) were sent, a media campaign was launched, stickers were placed, and thousands of phone calls were made. The company even communicated in different languages to ensure the message was received. Customers who did not take any action had their electricity cut off, as there is no party to pay for the consumed electricity without a valid contract.
Salzburg AG confirms that affected customers can still contact customer service to avoid or address power outages at the number 0800/660 660, available 24/7. They also warned that restarting the meters may take several hours, and users of smart meters should press the button on the meter for several seconds after restarting to restore power.