ENERGY LAW is of central importance to energy supply companies and energy consumers in the liberalized energy market. I have excellent knowledge of the Austrian energy industry from my work as a senior employee of a listed energy supplier. Since 1997 I have been intensively involved with the legal framework of the liberalization of the Austrian energy market, in whose design I played a leading role. I therefore have many years of excellent contacts with the Energy Regulatory Authority E-Control and the Energy Law Section of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (Energierechtssektion des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft).

After the drastic changes that took place at the turn of the millennium, the energy market is once again facing major upheavals.

These include the expansion of traditional networks into smart grids, ie intelligent power grids, the mutation of energy consumers to prosumers, the increase in energy efficiency through smart home solutions and e-mobility. Energy is no longer produced centrally in large-scale power plants, but decentrally in small generating units based on the renewable energy sources wind and sun. Intensive work is being done on developing peer-to-peer energy trading on blockchain infrastructure. The aim is to link all players in the market (generation, storage, network management and consumption) in an overall system.

These new structures and opportunities raise not only regulatory issues, but also civil law issues of data protection, contract and pricing, and possible liabilities.

I support traditional network operators, energy traders, energy consumers and producers as well as emerging market players to address the legal challenges posed by these developments.

My fields of expertise include, in particular, the representation of network operators in tariff classification procedures, the preparation and revision of general terms and conditions for network access and energy supply contracts, the preparation and review of energy supply contracts, the adaptation of existing energy supply contracts, representation in arbitration proceedings before E-Control and in civil proceedings ,

The following publications from the Department of Energy Law have been published by me:

Das neue Elektrizitätswirtschaftsrecht (ElWOG 1998): Elektrizitätswirtschafts- und -organisationsgesetz, Starkstromwegegesetz und Starktstromwegegrundsatzgesetz, Preistransparenzgesetz   und Preistranparenz-VO, Energielenkungsgesetz, Elektrizitätsbinnenmarkt-Richtlinie, Investitionsmelde-VO, Wien 1998 (with  Markus Heidinger and Richard V: Wolf)

Wettbewerb gibt Gas – die Gasbinnenmarktrichtlinie, ecolex 10/1998, 807 ff (with Markus Heidinger)

Vertragliche Beziehungen im liberalisierten Elektrizitätsmarkt, in: Kurt P. Nemec (editor), Liberalisierung österreichischer Infrastrukturmärkte, Wien 2003, 52 ff

Das neue Ökostromgesetz – bundeseinheitliche Regelung für Ökoanlagenbetreiber, RdU, 2003 (with Kornelia Ramsauer)

Ein Herzstück des liberalisierten Strommarktes steht auf dem Prüfstand, Die Presse, February 2003