A comparison on a European level shows that especially in France the electricity consumption has stabilized after a low in recent weeks. Mid-December the consumption even ranged four percent above that of last year. In contrast, the effects of the corona crisis and the lockdown measures are still clearly visible in Austria (minus six percent) and Italy (minus seven percent).

In the middle of March, due to the Corona crisis, we have interrupted activities at approximately 50 construction sites all over Austria and thus suspended our investments in the power supply infrastructure. Now we are able to resume these activities step by step and can thus contribute considerably to the recovery of Austria’s economy: in 2020 alone we will invest 350 million Euros.

In doing so we pay particular attention to follow the guidelines stipulated by the social partners and to adhere to the highest standard of hygiene, disinfection and social distancing. Prior to the resumption of activities every single project has been thoroughly evaluated and examined.

Austrian Power Grid (APG) operates and controls Austria’s nationwide transmission network. Every day we are working to make sure that everybody has electricity when they need it.

To ensure an uninterrupted power supply all over the country under the given circumstances, the following challenges have to be met:

1. Compliance with the social distancing stipulations of the Austrian government for the protection of our staff – along our transmission lines, in the substations, at the control center or in our headquarter
2. Best possible preparation for additional potential disturbances affecting the orderly operation of the network to ensure power supply for Austria’s population and business in particular to overcome the current crisis.

Thus we have implemented a number of measures and were focusing our efforts on our core operations from mid March to mid April.

Mid-March, within one week, the energy consumption in Austria dropped by approximately 10 percent due to the corona crisis – this is nearly the amount of energy that the country usually consumes on a Sunday. By the end of March this figure had already increased to -13 percent. Such a massive drop is also noticeable in the grid because less electricity is travelling through the lines. However, from the beginning the experts at the APG control center had this new situation well under control and the energy supply was not jeopardized at any time.