Demand Effects of Energy Taxes. Short-term Elasticities for the Assessment of the Strategic Measures According to the Energy Efficiency Law

Austria needs to achieve, according to § 4 of the Austrian Energy Efficiency Law, a cumulated energy efficiency improvement of 310 PJ by 2020. 159 PJ have to be contributed by energy suppliers and 151 PJ through strategic measures, that are taxes, or subsidies for using energy-efficient technologies that lead to a reduction of the final energy consumption. This study evaluates the energy savings through price related measures. In the scenarios short term price elasticities of the energy taxes accomplish a change in energy demand of 63 PJ.