Best Electricity & Gas Providers in Austria (2026)

Setting up energy in your Austrian apartment is straightforward. Follow these steps when you move into a new home:

• 1

  Check if your apartment already has a contract

  Ask your landlord or property manager. Many apartments have an existing energy contract that transfers to new tenants, or are on the local default supply (Grundversorgung). In either case, you will have electricity and gas from day one.

• 2

  Register with a provider using your Meldezettel

  If you need to set up a new contract, you will need your Meldezettel (registration certificate), your meter number (Zählernummer, found on the meter or in your rental contract), and an Austrian bank account for direct debit.

• 3

  Switch providers anytime, with two weeks' notice

  You can switch your energy supplier at any time. Simply sign up with a new provider and they will handle the transfer. The switch takes at most three weeks under § 25 ElWG, is free, and never interrupts supply.

What do tenants have to do when moving in or out?

The tenant with a meter in their own name carries the contract, so the tenant moves it. On move-in, pick a supplier, or you land on the more expensive Grundversorgung. On move-out, the contract runs on until you end it, and the base fee keeps accruing. A shared meter or an all-in rent means the landlord is the contract partner and you cannot switch.

Local-supplier prices from the E-Control price monitor of 1 September 2026, including grid fees, levies and 20% VAT. See our VAT guide for how Austrian taxes work. Actual costs depend on your consumption, building insulation, and heating type.

Energy prices in Austria vary by provider, tariff, and region. Here is what you can expect to pay as of September 2026. For a full budget breakdown, see our cost of living guide.

A 2026 average household using 3,500 kWh per year pays €890.91 to €1,218.11 a year with its local supplier, or about 25 to 35 cents per kWh all-in, varying by Bundesland (E-Control, 1 September 2026). The federal electricity price cap (Strompreisbremse, under the Stromkostenzuschussgesetz) ended on 31 December 2024. Since January 2025 households pay the full market price again, so a tariff review is especially worthwhile in 2026.

As a concrete 2026 benchmark, Wien Energie's OPTIMA Entspannt plus is a fixed tariff with a 12-month price guarantee (Preisgarantie) on 100% renewable electricity. Its energy charge is ~9.99 ct/kWh net (~12.83 ct/kWh gross, including Vienna's 7% Gebrauchsabgabe plus 20% VAT), on top of a €5.01/month net Grundpreis (base price), €6.44/month gross. The gas equivalent, OPTIMA Entspannt plus Erdgas, rose from 5.44 ct/kWh net in April 2026 to 6.84 ct/kWh net (8.78 ct/kWh gross, including the Gebrauchsabgabe) on Wien Energie's October 2026 price sheet, plus a €7.00/month net Grundpreis (€8.99 gross). These prices apply to contracts starting in October 2026, not permanently, so check the current tariff before you sign.

Every Austrian tariff adds a fixed monthly Grundpreis (base price) on top of the per-kWh Arbeitspreis (energy charge). The Grundpreis stays the same no matter how little you use, so a low headline ct/kWh figure alone does not tell you the total. Wien Energie charges €5.01/month net (€6.44 gross) for electricity and €7.00/month net (€8.99 gross) for gas (Wien Energie, October 2026); always add the Grundpreis when comparing offers on the E-Control Tarifkalkulator.

Your electricity price has three parts. The energy charge (Arbeitspreis, ~40 to 55%) is the only switchable part, set by your supplier. The grid fee (Netzentgelt, ~25 to 30%) is regulated by E-Control, fixed by your region, and not switchable. Taxes and levies (electricity duty, VAT, green-power levy) make up ~20 to 30%. Switching supplier only changes the energy charge; your grid operator (Netzbetreiber) stays the same. In Vienna the grid operator is Wiener Netze; you cannot switch it, and its grid fee is billed by your supplier on the same invoice (Wiener Netze, 2026).

Where does the money in a 3,500 kWh bill go?

Our calculation: the 2026 shares applied to a €1,100 bill, the middle of the E-Control range for local suppliers (€890.91 to €1,218.11, 1 September 2026). Grid share per the Austrian Court of Audit (Rechnungshof), May 2025. Gas splits differently: energy ~51%, grid ~20%, taxes ~29% (natural gas tax 6.6 ct/m³ plus a CO₂ price of about 1 ct/kWh).

Which three numbers move a 3,500 kWh bill in 2027?

Our calculation, 20% VAT. The tax cut applies to the calendar year 2026 only unless the law is extended. The social tariff price of 6 ct/kWh net already includes the base fee, so the real saving is larger than shown.

For 2026, the Elektrizitätsabgabe (electricity duty) on private households was cut by about 93.3% to the EU minimum. This is a time-limited measure for calendar year 2026 (per the Austrian Parliament Budget Service) that lowers a typical household bill by roughly 5%. In Vienna, a further municipal Gebrauchsabgabe (usage tax) of 7% sits on top of the energy price before 20% VAT; this is the main reason a Vienna tariff's gross rate (e.g. ~12.83 ct/kWh) is well above its net rate (~9.99 ct/kWh) (Wien Energie, 2026).

Prices differ by Bundesland because the grid fee is set per region. The cheapest local supplier was TIWAG in Tyrol at €890.91 a year for 3,500 kWh, the dearest Energie Klagenfurt at €1,218.11, with Kelag in Carinthia close behind at €1,209.18. The cheapest offer anywhere was in Vorarlberg at €826.74. All figures are from the E-Control price monitor of 1 September 2026.

The 2026 grid-fee (Netzentgelt) changes vary sharply by state (E-Control, 2026). Fees rise most in Burgenland (+15.9%), Tyrol (+10.9%), and Lower Austria (+6.9%), but fall in Salzburg (~9% lower), with smaller cuts in Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Vienna, and Styria. Because the grid fee is not switchable, these regional moves flow straight through to your bill regardless of which supplier you pick.

A bigger change follows in 2027. Under an E-Control principles regulation of July 2026, household grid fees move step by step to a 50:50 split between energy used and a capacity charge based on your highest 15-minute peak each month, with a 10 kW basic allowance in the transition and no retroactive billing. About 75 percent of households should pay less, while homes with fast EV chargers may pay more, and a new night discount (22:00 to 04:00) is planned. As of September 2026 the detailed tariffs were still in procedure.

When you move into an Austrian apartment, you are typically placed on the Grundversorgung (default supply) provided by your regional default supplier (Grundversorger). While this ensures you have energy from day one, the default tariff is usually significantly more expensive than competitive market offers.

Grundversorgung vs. Switching

• Grundversorgung (default): Legally guaranteed supply at a regulated rate. No contract needed, but up to €247.83 a year more expensive than the cheapest market offer (E-Control, 1 September 2026).
• Market tariff (switching): Competitive pricing from dozens of providers. Switching is free and takes at most three weeks. No supply interruption.

How to Compare Providers

Use these comparison tools to find the best energy deal for your address:

• E-Control Tarifkalkulator , the official, regulator-run price comparison tool. Enter your postal code and consumption to see all available tariffs.
• durchblicker.at , a commercial comparison platform (not run by the regulator) that also covers insurance, internet, and other services.

Switching is capped at three weeks by law under § 25 ElWG (Elektrizitätswirtschaftsgesetz, in force since 24 December 2025, which replaced the ElWOG 2010). Since 1 April 2026 the technical switch itself takes no more than 24 hours. Households can cancel with two weeks' notice under § 24 ElWG. The switch is free of charge and never interrupts supply. The new supplier handles the cancellation with your old one, so you only sign up once.

For online sign-ups, a 14-day right of withdrawal applies under the FAGG (the Austrian distance-selling act). You can cancel a new contract within two weeks without giving a reason. Your grid operator (Netzbetreiber) stays the same, so no meter or cabling work is needed.

Use neutral comparison tools to find the cheapest tariff. The official E-Control tariff calculator is regulator-run and neutral. The Arbeiterkammer (AK) electricity calculator is a second independent option. For disputes with a supplier, E-Control runs a free arbitration body (Schlichtungsstelle).

The reports below show where moves and switches go wrong in practice: cut-offs before the cancellation date, wrong meter readings, fees nobody announced and credits held for weeks. Each is avoidable with a dated meter photo and a written cancellation. The E-Control Schlichtungsstelle settled more than 70 percent of its 1,037 cases in 2025, in 49 days on average. Its advice line took more than 15,000 enquiries, 13 percent of complaints concerned smart-meter data, and gas meters estimated for years produced back-payments of several thousand euros.