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On average, between 2015 and 2019, the TIWAG Group achieved sales of 1.2 billion euros annually, of which 80 percent came from electricity, 17 percent from gas, the rest from heating and other sales. With this turnover and its 1,250 employees, TIWAG is the largest company along with Tyrol Clinics, which is wholly owned by the State of Tyrol.
The state government also appoints TIWAG’s oversight board, and it would have to act solely in the interests of the company. The Court of Auditors criticizes the fact that Reinhard Schretter, a networked businessman, and Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf (ÖVP), a member of the state government, are part of the supervisory board of TIWAG. This is because, due to their roles on the Supervisory Board, it would be difficult for these individuals to act in the exclusive interest of TIWAG.
Elevated Distributions Partially Loan Financed
This comes into play, for example, when higher than average dividends are paid. For 2011, TIWAG distributed a special dividend of 230 million euros. LH Günther Platter (ÖVP) as representative of the owner justified it with a dividend advance until 2017. 220 million euros were used for the bereaved Hypo Tirol Bank.
The promised six years without dividends were fulfilled with postponements, but
The Federal Audit Office found that considerable sums of money were distributed over the years. From 2012 to 2019, a total of 62 million euros was disbursed. The payments from 2012 and from 2016 to 2019 could not be financed by the company.
At the owner’s request, a cut in the price of electricity was also higher than expected by the Board of Directors and taxed TIWAG’s annual result in 2016 at 18.6 million euros.
Criticism of the TIWAG Executive Committee
According to the Court of Auditors, the established TIWAG Presidential Committee, consisting of the chairman of the supervisory board and his two deputies, should also be questioned. This has wide decision-making powers and from 2015 to 2019 brought 86 business cases totaling 334 million to the attention of the Supervisory Board. The Court of Auditors criticizes that no meetings were held and that these cases were not registered. The committee’s activity can only be traced back to the minutes of the supervisory board.
The Court of Auditors speaks of concerns about bias
The court of auditors also mentions in its report that the chairman of the supervisory board and his group of companies were also suppliers to the large-scale community power station Inn (GKI) in the Upper Inn Valley. It says: “From the auditor’s point of view, the concern about bias according to the German Public Limited Companies Act cannot be completely ruled out.”
At the GKI, however, the Court of Auditors mainly criticized the huge excess construction costs. At € 604 million, this is a third more than planned, more than in the construction of the Inn power plant again up and running.
Violent criticism of the opposition
In view of this report from the Court of Auditors, List Fritz spoke of a political bomb. The report relentlessly shows ÖVP’s entanglements in and with the largest and most important national company. As the owner’s representative, Günther Platter orchestrates “the constant political and economic influence and blatant control of the TIWAG cash register,” according to Fritz’s list.
NEOS was shocked and also talked about tangles. Obviously, Platter sees the state government’s personal treasure in the state power company, according to criticism from NEOS.
For the president of the Tyrolean FPÖ, Markus Abwerzger, the report of the court of auditors on TIWAG clearly shows that the political composition of the supervisory boards clearly contradicts the interests of the company. The Tyrolean FPÖ has spoken out several times against the appointment of active politicians from ruling parties as local business supervisory boards, Abwerzger added in a broadcast.
