Industry leaders call on German government to lower energy prices

A number of industry heads are calling on Germany’s new government to lower electricity prices for industry, Handelsblatt reports. Volker Backs, CEO of aluminium producer Speira, told the paper that it trusts “the statements of the federal government that industry will get competitive electricity prices,” while Christian Hartel, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG, called for “the introduction of a green industrial electricity price as a transformation turbo for the energy-intensive basic industry.”

German businesses have been asking politicians to reduce electricity prices for years, while at the same time some campaigners have criticised the prices available to industry as being too low. This contradictory situation is largely down to the country’s complex system of taxes and levies. However, the current rising energy prices across Europe may lead to even louder calls for assistance.