According to the German Institute for Economic Research, consumers could have saved 1.7 billion euros in 2021.
(Photo: dpa)
Cash registers are ringing for wind and solar park operators while consumers groan under record electricity prices. This causes resentment, and rightly so. For decades, the citizens have financed the construction of the same wind and solar parks through the levy of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), but they do not share in the profits.
The abolition of the EEG surcharge announced by the federal government is not sufficient for this. This means that the consumer pays a few cents less per kilowatt hour – but this does not by any means compensate for the massive price increases on the electricity exchange. That has to change if the energy transition is to succeed.
In the early 2000s, the EEG made Germany a pioneer in terms of energy transition and has served it well for years. In 2014, the switch to renewable energies should be further promoted with the mandatory introduction of direct marketing for systems above a certain size. The EEG should only serve as a safeguard from below. The consumer had to pay for this with his electricity bill.
Now the operators are selling the majority of their green energy at exorbitant prices on the exchange, where it is taken by utilities and resold to electricity customers at equally exorbitant prices. Many operators take advantage of the moment and are happy about the high profits. And who should blame them? After all, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be politically. But politicians had not expected electricity prices to rise so rapidly.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The Spanish government briefly proposed a rather radical solution to the same problem. Although there is no EEG there, green electricity operators are currently raking in high profits here, while the citizens are suffering from the high electricity prices even more than in Germany. That’s why Spain wanted to introduce a mechanism that would have returned the profits from CO2-neutral power plants to consumers. A special levy would then have been due on green electricity from old plants. In Spain, where the majority of green electricity is sold via long-term contracts and not on the stock exchange, this step would have put many wind and solar parks in distress. So the idea was quickly discarded.
The problem is anything but trivial. But if there is a lower limit for green electricity, why not an upper limit as well? This is exactly what is currently being discussed in the industry. One thing is clear: something has to change. Otherwise the energy transition will face the next acceptance problem.
More: Electricity prices ensure high profits for solar and wind farm operators – also due to the EEG