“A cap for the renewables surcharge”

Ilse Aigner and Garrelt Duin, the state economy ministers of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) respectively, jointly propose permanently capping the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) surcharge for power consumers at 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh), according to an article in Rheinische Post. Setting up a federal fund, initially covered via loans, would distribute the renewables support cost over several years. It would be used until about 2028, when levy revenues exceeded the payments to renewable facility operators. “After 2028 surplus revenues from the frozen EEG surcharge could be used to fully repay the loan by 2038,” according to a report by the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo) in Munich. Bavaria and NRW will now advertise their proposal with the other federal states, writes Rheinische Post.

Read the article in German here.

Find the Ifo press release in English here.

Also read the CLEW article Germany debates form of renewables support as levy rises for background.