VERBUND-sponsored Caritas Electricity Assistance Fund

It is very frequently the case that above-average energy consumption goes hand in hand with below-average income.

Franz Küberl, president of Caritas Österreich, relies on help that makes sense: “In cooperation with our partner VERBUND, we offer the people concerned professional energy consulting, replacement of their electricity appliances and interim aid to pay their electricity bills. This is the exact kind of assistance people keep asking us for.”

Help that really helps
The fund provides dual and sustainable help – to people in financial need and to the climate. These aims are achieved by three specific measures:

1. Energy consultation
   Certified energy consultants in all federal provinces analyse the households of people seeking aid at Caritas for ways and means of saving energy (not just electricity), e.g. by using energy-saving appliances, new window gaskets, etc.
2. Replacement of appliances
   The fund also covers the replacement of power-gobbling appliances by power-saving equipment. As soon as the initiative was launched, the household appliance brands Bosch, Siemens and Neff made a selection of low-energy brand-name devices available to persons in need.
3. Interim aid for financing electricity bills
   If households are no longer able to pay their electricity bills, and if paying by instalments is not an option either, the Electricity Assistance Fund comes into effect – just in time to prevent power from being switched off – no matter which electricity supplier the household gets its electricity from.
   This also saves the household the costs of having the power switched on again. To qualify for interim aid, households in question need an energy consultation plus any required efficiency measures. One year after taking the energy measures, the energy consultant returns to assess how effective the measures were.

How to get help
People in need can find help at over 30 Caritas Social Action Network centres across all federal provinces. In a first step, the individual situation is analysed and suitable measure(s) defined. Households can apply for help from the fund no matter which energy company they get their energy from.

How the fund is financed
For each of its private customers, VERBUND pays 1 Euro into the fund annually. This helps to support as many as 400 to 500 households a year. Moreover, VERBUND finances energy consultation services, some of which are subject to charges, and the organization of the assistance services, e.g. transporting the replacement appliances.

Other companies are welcome to take part in the three-pillar principle of the Electricity Assistance Fund.