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Electricity customers should be relieved

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The government parliamentary groups have agreed to relieve consumers of electricity prices. This should primarily help citizens and companies, but also the green electricity industry.

The black-red coalition has agreed on billions in relief for consumers in terms of electricity prices. To this end, the green electricity levy is to be stabilized with funds from the federal budget in 2023 and 2024, said the negotiators from the Union and the SPD. Additional tender volumes for onshore wind energy and photovoltaics were also agreed for 2022. In addition, approval procedures in the Federal Immission Control Act are to be made easier.

Lower the EEG surcharge to 5 cents

The EEG surcharge is an essential part of the electricity bill. So that the surcharge according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) does not increase drastically, the federal government had stabilized the surcharge for the years 2021 and 2022 with taxpayers’ money from the budget in the billions. The surcharge will be 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour in 2021 and 6 cents in 2022. In the following years it was possible to reduce the surcharge to below 5 cents per kilowatt hour, it was now said. For this purpose, income from the national emissions trading for heat and transport and funds not drawn from the energy and climate fund are to be used. The aim is to relieve citizens and companies. The economy in particular complains about the high electricity prices in Germany compared to other EU countries.

Share of renewable energies in 2020 at 46 percent

In the course of the EEG amendment passed at the end of 2020, the coalition agreed to define a further expansion path for renewable energies in the first quarter of 2021. However, there were delays in the negotiations. The coalition was also unable to agree on fundamentally higher expansion targets for green electricity. So far, the goal is a share of 65 percent green electricity by 2030. Last year, according to industry information, renewable energies had a share of 46 percent in electricity consumption.

Opposition: “minimum of necessary corrections”

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) called the further lowering of the EEG surcharge good news for consumers, but also for the systematic ecological conversion. “Because climate-friendly alternatives such as electric cars and heat pumps are becoming cheaper and cheaper.” The new expansion targets for 2022 are an important first step – but this must be followed by a significantly increased expansion path for the rest of the decade. Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) also said with a view to the agreement in the EU on a higher climate target for 2030, the issue of climate protection is picking up speed. The Greens criticized that the coalition was only able to agree on a “minimum of necessary corrections”. The coalition is once again falling far short of what is possible and necessary in terms of the energy transition.

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