History of EVN    

The following text provides information about the most important events and interrelationships which helped transform the Lower Austrian electricity provider EVN in the course of the 20th century into an international infrastructure company focusing on energy and environmental services.

 

EVN AG 

The corporate headquarters of the publicly listed company EVN AG are located in Maria Enzersdorf, Lower Austria. EVN arose as a result of the merger of the Lower Austrian provincial electricity company NEWAG with the natural gas and district heating firm NIOGAS. A 49 % stake in EVN was privatized in two public offerings in the years 1989 and 1990. The Federal Province of Lower Austria holds a 51 % stake in the share capital of EVN AG. The core business activities consisting of providing electricity, natural gas and heat were complemented in the year 2001 by the acquisition of EVN Wasser GmbH, which provides drinking water. Other subsidiaries in the EVN Group operate in the fields of drinking water purification and wastewater treatment, waste incineration, technical services and telecommunications. In 2004, EVN acquired a majority shareholding in two Bulgarian electricity distribution companies in Plovdiv and Stara Stagora. In 2006, EVN acquired the Macedonian national electricity distribution company, which has operated under the name EVN Macedonia since 2008. In 2008, EVN was granted concessions for two hydropower plant projects in Albania, in which EVN has a 50 % stake in the respective joint ventures.  
 

Electricity supply: From the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to the Republic of Austria     

EVN originally goes back to the provincial electricity company Landes-Elektrizitätswerk founded in 1907 by the Archduchy of Austria above the Enns. The firm built the Wienerbruck hydroelectric power plant in order to provide electricity to the Mariazell Railway as well as to Sankt Pölten. When opened in the year 1911, Wienerbruck was the largest storage power station in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the partition of the Archduchy of Austria into two federal provinces, Lower Austria and Vienna, the Lower Austrian electricity company NEWAG (Niederösterreichische Elektrizitätswirtschafts-Aktiengesellschaft) was established in 1922. The firm was owned by the two aforementioned provinces, along with other public and private shareholders. NEWAG was responsible for constructing power plants, creating a regional distribution network and on electrifying areas which had previously not had access to electrical power. Electricity production was primarily based on hydropower.  
 

Expansion in the National Socialist era, restitution claims in the Second Republic of Austria    

During the National Socialist regime, the company was renamed Gauwerke Niederdonau AG, and took over several previously independent electricity companies. As a result, the electricity supply area increased significantly. The towns of Horn, Krems, St. Pölten, Waidhofen an der Ybbs as well as other owners had to accept compensation in the form of preferential shares in Gauwerke Niederdonau. Political pressures led to the sale of smaller utility companies in cash. After 1945, several former owners fought for the restitution of their property. One of the two power plants of the utility company Elektrizitätswerks Lichtenstern in Wilhelmburg was returned to its Jewish owner, whereas the second and larger power station remained in the hands of NEWAG. All other property restitution lawsuits were rejected. The restitution commission (responsible court of law) argued that the takeover of these power plants were implemented in anticipation of the later nationalisation, and would have taken place sooner or later.
In the years 1942-1944, Gauwerke Niederdonau had built the first natural gas fired power plant located in Neusiedl an der Zaya. The Velox boiler delivered by the Swiss supplier BBC is considered to be a technical milestone (exhaust gas turbine and combustion air compressor).
 

Nationalisation   

The Federal Province of Lower Austria became the sole owner of NEWAG as a consequence of the nationalisation of Austria’s electricity industry in the year 1947, as stipulated by the Second Nationalisation Law. Most of the remaining independent utility companies were acquired by NEWAG. A decade-long legal dispute concerning the areas surrounding Vienna which were supplied with electricity by the Viennese municipal utility company Wiener Stadtwerke could first be resolved at the end of the 1990s within the context of the full-scale liberalisation of the electricity market, when EVN and Wiener Stadtwerke joined forces to create EnergieAllianz Austria.
 

Complete electrification   

Following the end of World War II, NEWAG’s primary goal was to provide electricity to the entire region. At that time, numerous people in the Alpine foothills, the Bucklige Welt and the Waldviertel region lived without electricity. The electrification process was finally completed in 1963, when the village of Harmanschlag in the northwestern portion of the Waldviertel was connected to the power grid.
 

Power plant construction  

In the post war decades up until approximately 1980, electricity consumption doubled every ten years. NEWAG was able to keep pace with growing demand by building new power stations. Back in the 1950s, NEWAG already constructed a series of hydroelectric power plants on the Kamp River featuring the Dobra-Krumau and Ottenstein storage power stations, which also set new trends in respect to landscaping and tourism. The company increasingly invested in thermal power stations, due to the fact that Verbundgesellschaft had the legal rights to expand hydropower generation on the Danube, the river in Lower Austria with the greatest energy potential. The most technologically advanced power plant operated by EVN is the natural gas driven power station in Theiß near Krems. The subsidiary evn naturkraft also operates numerous wind parks and more than 60 small hydropower plants. 
 

Natural gas company NIOGAS      

The founding of the Lower Austrian natural gas supplier NIOGAS by NEWAG and the Federal Province of Lower Austria in 1954 marked a turning point in the energy policies of the company. Starting with the Baden gas plant, NIOGAS systematically acquired the municipal gasworks in Lower Austria, and converted them to natural gas (Baden, Krems, Stockerau, St. Pölten, Wiener Neustadt). Within just a few years, a high pressure distribution network was created, enabling the company to supply natural gas to industrial companies in Lower Austria. NIOGAS derived natural gas from the state-owned energy company OMV. Domestic supplies covered demand up until the middle of the 1960s.
 

Crisis and restructuring   

Following the stormy growth phase of the post war years, NEWAG and NIOGAS were confronted with major challenges in 1966. The conflict between corporate and provincial interests reached a climax as a result of the behavior of a politician in the Provincial Government Viktor Müllner, who was also CEO of NEWAG. There were several cases of illegal favoritism and preferential treatment of third parties. Müllner was forced to resign and had to appear before a court. For its part, NIOGAS was close to bankruptcy, and threatened to drag NEWAG down with it. In 1968, a new Executive Board led by Rudolf Gruber was appointed. NEWAG and NIOGAS were successfully restructured with the financial and political support of the Provincial Government of Lower Austria.
 

Natural gas imports from the Soviet Union     

In 1968, Austria became the first Western country to conclude a natural gas import agreement with the Soviet Union, with NIOGAS involved as a purchaser of imported gas. The Soviet natural gas was required to cover the strong increase in demand in the following decades. In the 1980s, NIOGAS (EVN) participated in the exploitation of Norway’s Troll gas field in the North Sea. NIOGAS expanded its supply of natural gas to private households earlier than other companies, enabling a large percentage of the population, including consumers in rural areas, to gain access to this cleaner and more economical source of energy.
 

Merger creates EVN   

A merger of the restructured companies was already under consideration back in 1970. However, this step was not taken for tax reasons. As a result, NEWAG and NIOGAS 1972 were combined to form a fully integrated affiliated company (joint executive board, accounting and reporting, same organisational structure). NEWAG and NIOGAS legally merged in 1986 after changes were made to the country’s tax laws. Shortly afterwards, the newly-formed firm was given the name EVN AG (EVN stands for “Energie-Versorgung Niederösterreich”, the energy supply company of Lower Austria).
 

Initial Public Offering, Liberalisation   

In the 1980s, Austria politically abandoned its long-standing nationalisation paradigm. The Second Nationalisation Law was revised in 1988, paving the way for the partial privatization of the state-owned utility companies (with 51 % remaining in state-owned hands). EVN took full advantage of this opportunity, and implemented two public offerings in 1989 and 1990 to sell a 49 % stake of its share capital via the Vienna Stock Exchange. In the following years, the company was very successful, increasing revenue, Group net profit and share prices. In the second half of the 1990s, strategic investors demonstrated a growing interest for EVN. In 1995, Austria joined the European Union. EU membership and the subsequent EU-wide opening of the electricity and gas markets had a far-reaching impact on EVN’s business operations. EVN concluded new cooperation agreements and expanded to South East Europe. In 1998, EVN and Wiener Stadtwerke founded a joint venture company, EAA EnergieAllianz Austria, which was initially designed to serve the liberalised electricity market for large customers. Since October 2001, the electricity market has been completely liberalized, also for private households, which was followed in 2002 by a fully open gas market. In the natural gas segment, OMV, EVN and other Austrian companies bundled their energies to set up ECONGAS GmbH to coordinate natural gas imports and supply large customers.
 

Environmental holding and expansion to South East Europe     

EVN reacted to the increased competitive pressure on the mature domestic market of Austria and emerging business opportunities in South East Europe by strategically re-orienting its business operations. In addition to its focus on supplying energy (electricity, natural gas, heat), the company increased its involvement in the field of environmental services, expanding to encompass drinking water and wastewater provided by its subsidiary evn wasser and WTE, and waste incineration offered by AVN. EVN expanded internationally both in its Energy and Environmental Services segments. In Lower Austria, EVN provides 800,000 customers with electricity, 200,000 with gas and 40,000 with heat. EVN has 2.2 million electricity customers in Bulgaria and Macedonia. In 2008, EVN signed two concession agreements to build hydropower plants in Albania within the framework of joint ventures.

Web links:
www.energieallianz.at
www.econgas.com

Books (in German):
Brusatti, Alois; Swietly, Ernst A.: Erbe und Auftrag. EVN. Ein Unternehmen stellt sich vor. St. Pölten 1990.
Rigele, Georg: Zwischen Monopol und Markt. EVN das Energie- und Infrastrukturunternehmen. EVN: Maria Enzersdorf 2004.
EVN Netz GmbH (Hg.): Das 60-kV-Netz der EVN 1923–2008. Maria Enzersdorf 2008.

The EVN Archive will respond to inquiries in respect to the company’s history: evn.archiv@evn.at