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Austria owns stakes in firms including OMV, Verbund

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Chancellor did not specify how it would raise the money

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Funds will be used to lower electricity bills, he said

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'We know how we want to do it,' he tells reporters

(Adds details, Stocker comment, background throughout)

VIENNA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Austria's government plans to

spend roughly 500 million euros ($579 million) on reducing

electricity bills for the general public, and the funds will

come from the state's stakes in companies, Chancellor Christian

Stocker said on Wednesday.

The surprise announcement at a press conference on the day

Stocker returned to his office after back surgery prompted

several questions from reporters about how exactly the money

would be raised, but Stocker declined to elaborate.

Austria holds stakes in various companies including

listed ones such as oil firm OMV, utility Verbund

, Austrian Post and A1 Telekom Austria

, part of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's America

Movil.

"It will be possible to make these 500 million available

from our stakes," Stocker said, adding that the spending would

be budget-neutral, meaning it would not deepen a deficit that

the centrist coalition government is trying to rein in.

"I understand that you would like me to tell you in

detail which company it will come from and what method will be

used," Stocker said. "We know how we want to do it. We will

agree on the details (within the government)."

A spokesperson for public holdings company OBAG, which

manages the state's biggest stakes in firms, declined to comment

on the announcement.

($1 = 0.8639 euros)