“Renewables surcharge is socially unfair and must be abolished”

The Social Democrat-led Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the eastern German state of Brandenburg has called for abolishing the country’s core law on financing  the roll-out of renewables, the Renewable Energy Act (EEG). The law is unfair because poorer households must spend a comparatively large share of their income on the renewable surcharge, while wealthy households can benefit by investing in renewables, a press release quoted Brandenburg’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Albrecht Gerber, as telling a conference in Berlin. He said that in the medium term, the federal government should provide the funds necessary for the roll-out of renewables.

Read the press release in German here.

For background on the ongoing reform debate, read the factsheet Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future.