Energy-intensive companies depend on competitive power prices

Energy-intensive companies in Germany need competitive power prices to survive in the global market, Angela Hennersdorf writes for WirtschaftsWoche Online. Energy costs were among the main cost factors for companies such as metal provider Aurubis, Hennersdorf says. She quotes Aurubis manager Ulf Gehrckens as saying that without the exemptions from power taxes and levies such as the renewables surcharge the company's power costs would more than double. The average electricity price for industry, commerce, and services in Germany has risen by 184 percent to currently 17.2 cents per kilowatt-hour since 2000, Hennersdorf writes. Levies and taxes  account for more than half of the electricity price. About 95 percent of all companies in Germany pay the renewables surcharge, she writes.

Find the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheets What business thinks of the energy transition and What German households pay for power for more information.