Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) remains skeptical about demands from the Greens and the SPD parliamentary group for the introduction of a reduced industrial electricity price. “We have to weigh such an intervention in the market very carefully so that it does not have any unwanted consequences: it must not lead to the expansion of wind and solar energy stalling,” said the SPD politician to “Welt am Sonntag”. Scholz also finds it difficult to justify the fact that companies that make huge profits are subsidized by taxpayers and that Germany is heavily indebted for this. “You notice I’m a bit reserved.”
The President of the Central Association of German Crafts, Jörg Dittrich, spoke out against a pure industrial electricity price. “I expect politicians to create a competitive energy price for everyone and not just support a few,” said the ZDH President to the editorial network Germany (Saturday). A large number of companies in all areas are affected by the high energy prices.
“The fact that we even have to talk about something like this is, in my understanding, a defeat,” said Dittrich. “It is an admission that we cannot guarantee affordable energy for everyone in Germany.” The crafts president also complained that the debate focused too little on medium-sized businesses.
What alternative suggestions are there?
The deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Lukas Köhler explained his alternative proposal in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday). He wants to exempt small and medium-sized companies from taxes, levies and levies on electricity prices and significantly reduce their network fees. So-called own power PPAs are intended to serve this purpose. Medium-sized companies should have easier access to such “power purchase agreements”, i.e. direct electricity supply contracts between power producers and industrial companies.
The electricity purchased should then be treated like electricity that is produced and consumed on the company’s own factory premises – even if there is no direct power line between the power plant and the industrial customer. This eliminated the usual additional price components. “On the one hand, medium-sized businesses would also be supplied with cheap electricity, and on the other hand, more renewable systems and storage systems would be built,” Köhler told the newspaper.
The term of the supply contracts should therefore be limited to ten years. The FDP MP did not provide any information about the costs. According to the FAZ report, his proposal should be decided on Tuesday in the FDP parliamentary group. Like Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), Köhler also continues to insist on reducing the electricity tax from the current 2.05 to the minimum permitted under European law of 0.05 cents per kilowatt hour – a privilege that many energy-intensive companies already enjoy.