Economics Minister Robert Habeck is open to a price cap for industrial electricity. This can be valid for up to five years.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has campaigned for a government-subsidized electricity price cap for industry. “The whole economy is currently talking intensively about an industrial electricity price, and I think we have to do that,” said Habeck on Friday evening in the “RND on-site” talk of the editorial network Germany. “If we cap prices, we lose money, if we don’t cap them, we may lose the industries of the future,” argued the Green politician.
Habeck said it would take four or five years. Germany must be careful that key technologies do not migrate to China and the USA during this time.
The Federal Ministry of Economics has been working on a concept for a reduced industrial electricity price for energy-intensive companies in Germany for some time. In March, several industrial unions spoke out in favor of such an instrument.
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Demands from the SPD and from Bavaria for a subsidy
The economic politicians of the SPD parliamentary group want a state-subsidized industrial electricity price of five cents per kilowatt hour for the next two years. According to a paper by the AG Wirtschaft, which was available to Reuters on Wednesday, the concept could dock with the electricity price brake. The electricity tax can be reduced to the European minimum. In the long run, the amount of the price should be based on the development of the tariffs at Germany’s competitors. Access to cheaper electricity should also be open to medium-sized companies.
Bavaria proposed an industrial electricity price of 4 cents net per kilowatt hour at the meeting of energy ministers at the end of March. According to the Bavarian Ministry of Energy, prices are currently fluctuating between around 10 to 15 cents and 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour. According to the ideas of the state government, a favorable industrial electricity price should be introduced by 2024 at the latest according to the electricity price brake system. In order to set an incentive to save energy, the payment should be limited to 80 percent of consumption.
