Joining a Renewable Energy Community
Today is time for something a little bit closer to home. As a newcomer in Austria and relatively new employee of the EGTC Alpine Pearls (DECA Partner), I’ve had lots to learn and plenty of adapting to do. It’s been especially challenging as I’ve moved house more times now than the price cap on energy back ‘home’ in Britain seems to have been raised. That is, the maximum that the public is allowed to pay for a set quantity of electricity.
What I have learnt, is that people make a place, and it’s quite lonely, and easily done in our digital world, if you don’t find those spaces to engage, make friends and network. On top of that, there is an extra layer of difficulty in the language barrier. In my case, I have found these spaces in the church, with language exchange partners and ‘Sprach cafés’, in running clubs, and more recently in a Renewable Energy Community (REC).
DECA is an Interreg Danube funded project, short for: “Danube Energy Community Accelerator”.
Why choosing a Renewable Energy Community?
As part of my work, I had researched energy communities in my local Graz and contacted a few to connect and learn more. Part of this was a learning by doing, to learn how the process works here, so that I could do my job better, another aspect of it was to meet new people and try to find a way to bring down my bills, in what is one of the more expensive parts of Europe.
It was easy to see where there were existing energy communities in Austria, and the contact details were there at hand. Just have a look at the energy community map for Austria: https://energiegemeinschaften.gv.at/landkarte/
I could easily find out what transformer station I was connected to from the local grid operator, and that was all I really needed to know.
The path to becoming a partner
Back in Autumn last year, at the time I contacted a few local RECs, I wasn’t covered under the reach of any of the local communities (which are those connected on the same transformer), but the contact for Parnhansl Local REC assured me that within months they would be setting up a regional energy community (same substation) and I could join.
In January 2025, the Regional REC had been created, I simply received an email stating the cost of electricity and whether I would like to joint. The nice part here is, that there was room for discussion. In the end, those in the community agreed on a slightly lower price per KWh.
If this wasn’t already a slight saving compared to the conventional energy provider, the network fees will also be reduced anywhere from 25-60% depending on exactly which parts of the network are used (or not!).
How did I join?
I simply gave my metering point number to the energy community leader, and a few days later I received a request from my network operator (Energienetze Steiermark). After accepting this request on their website (where I would normally check my energy usage anyway), a few days after that I received a simple message to confirm that I was now an official member!
And that was that. I’m now better connected in my community, socially and electronically. As well as not being able to wait for the energy bill to come through, I’m also excited to see where my involvement here may lead.
For sure I’ll be telling all my new friends in Graz about it, and may be one day, when I’m not in rented accommodation anymore, it will be time to think about installing my own renewable energy.
If you are interested in joint, or even starting up an REC to share your renewably produced energy with others, I would recommend checking out this useful Handguide produced by Adi Hütter, that’ll tell you most things you need to know. Otherwise, there is the useful Coordination Office for RECs.