Earlier From the EEG surcharge
Green faction opposes abolition
02/02/2022, 02:20 am
The EEG surcharge fell at the beginning of the year, but it is not to be abolished until 2023. Because the increased energy prices are becoming a burden for many households, the traffic light coalition is considering abolishing the surcharge earlier. The Greens chairman is in favor, but there is resistance in the parliamentary group.
The Greens in the Bundestag have criticized the traffic light coalition’s plans to abolish the EEG surcharge this year. “It costs five billion euros to lower the levy by one cent – half the money could easily help all those who have acute problems,” said the climate and energy policy spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group, Ingrid Nestle, the editorial network Germany (RND).
“Currently, the situation with energy prices is worrying us all,” Nestle admitted. However, “structural answers are needed now so that we don’t quickly run into similar problems again”.
In its coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition had agreed to abolish the EEG surcharge from the beginning of 2023. At the weekend, Finance Minister Christian Lindner discussed bringing it forward to this summer in order to relieve consumers of energy prices. The newly elected leader of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, has also spoken out in favor of abolition “this year”.
According to a survey by the energy umbrella association BDEW, the electricity tariffs for household customers are currently around 36 cents per kilowatt hour on average and thus around twelve percent higher than the annual average of 2021.
However, experts doubt that the elimination of the current 3.72 cent levy would reach the customers in full. A BDEW spokeswoman told the RND that due to the competition in the industry, no company could afford “not to include the abolition of the EEG surcharge in the price calculation”. How this affects end customer prices also depends on the development of procurement costs for electricity.
Even if 2022 is a high-price year, “the high costs that energy suppliers have to pay for the purchase of electricity could partially or completely offset the lowering effect of the abolition of the EEG surcharge,” said the industry association. However, this would cushion a further significant increase in consumer prices due to the high world market prices.