“Reduce electricity prices effectively”
CSU would immediately overturn the EEG surcharge
1/24/2022 3:41 p.m
The traffic light wants to abolish the EEG surcharge on the electricity price by 2023 at the latest and thus relieve consumers of rising costs. In a strategy paper, the CSU demands that the step must be taken in the first half of the year. The commuter allowance must also increase dynamically.
The CSU state group in the Bundestag wants to take action against rising energy prices with a list of demands. According to the report in the “Bild” newspaper, the strategy paper lists five points. The CSU state group is calling for the EEG surcharge to be abolished in the first half of this year, “so that electricity prices can be reduced effectively this year”.
The national group also proposes a “dynamic commuter allowance” that “automatically increases with the price of fuel”. Since rising energy prices hit “medium and lower income earners and pensioners the hardest”, MEPs are calling for a “protective shield” against price increases with inflation compensation in taxes and social benefits.
In order to prevent jobs from migrating, “an effective reduction in the industrial electricity price for energy-intensive production” is also needed, quoted the “Bild” from the paper. After all, Germany must rely on a larger number of providers in order to avoid becoming dependent on Russia. This also includes the establishment of a larger national gas reserve “in order to build up a crisis-proof supply diversity”.
Traffic light is already planning early abolition
“The rising energy prices are becoming a mega challenge for our country,” says the paper, according to the report. For commuters it is the high fuel prices, for middle-income people the high heating costs, for companies the high electricity prices. The traffic light coalition ignores the energy price spiral and refuses quick relief. According to the information, the paper should be an issue at the retreat of the CSU state group on February 2nd and 3rd in Berlin.
The traffic light coalition is already planning to bring forward the abolition of the EEG surcharge. Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group, said it was right to initiate the first measures as quickly as possible and to abolish the EEG surcharge for electricity customers earlier than planned. “The traffic light partners will discuss this in the next few weeks.” The reform was previously planned for 2023.