Austrians dial down Christmas lights, fearing blackouts, bills

One in three people in Austria has dialed down their Christmas lights, according to a survey of 1,500 people by consulting and auditing firm EY.
A little over 60% of the respondents believe that Austria remains at high risk of blackouts this Christmas.
While worries of power outages were a major factor, the biggest motivation remains reducing electricity costs, cited by 76.6% of respondents.
Another 11% said they were aiming to save and also reduce the risk of power outages, while 26.1% said they were cutting back on decorative lights to do their bit for the environment.
According to the survey, 22.9% of Austrian households are not prepared for blackouts and 15.1% do not plan to take any precautionary measures.
People in the capital Vienna are the most ill-prepared, with 33% yet to take any steps.
In contrast, 86% of Salzburg’s citizens have taken some sort of precautionary steps, the survey found.
Of all respondents, 60.4% said they have procured candles and flashlights, while 50.3% have stocked up on non-perishable food items.
In the event of a blackout, 78.7% of Austrians assume electricity supply will be restored after 24 hours at the latest, according to the survey.