Industry demands decrease of taxes and levies on electricity

Costs such as the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) surcharge and power grid fees make electricity artificially expensive and keep companies from ramping up production at times of low wholesale power prices, Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) president Eric Schweitzer told Andreas Mihm for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The growth of renewables has made cheaply produced excess power available, but this is mostly sold abroad because domestic fees kept the industry from using it in Germany. Schweitzer calls for electricity tax to be lowered to “nearly zero”. Large power consumers are already often fully or partly exempt from levies on electricity, writes Mihm.

For background read the CLEW factsheet Industrial power prices and the Energiewende and the CLEW dossier Energiewende effects on power prices, costs and industry.