German Renewable Energy Federation wants fairer distribution of renergy costs

Jul 24, 2012 - The German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) has called for a fairer cost distribution in the transition to renewable energy, especially focused on relieving smaller firms and consumers from part of the expenses.

There is a policy to relieve industrial companies at the cost of small enterprises and private customers BEE chief Dietmar Schuetz said last week. The stock price-reducing effect alone is relieving the industry of EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.814bn) per year. Furthermore, the government continues to exclude industrial companies of the duty to pay surcharges under the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which is another annual drop in costs of EUR 2.5 billion. From this year, big companies with a large power consumption have also been relieved of paying fees for the use of the power grid, which has reduced their expenses by EUR 1.1 billion, he added.

On the other hand, costs for private consumers have been on a constant rise, the BEE said. In the year 2000 the average private consumer paid EUR 0.14 per kWh of power, of which EUR 0.002 were for the EEG surcharge. By 2009 the price of electricity has increased to EUR 0.23 per kWh, while the EEG surcharge has only risen to EUR 0.013.
In the past three years the EEG surcharge for consumers has increased by EUR 0.02 per kWh. Currently, the average consumer pays EUR 0.26 per kWh of electricity and the EEG surcharge is EUR 0.0359 of that amount.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.211)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!