Consumer users: more state aid for electricity costs
"There is evidence that the levy was allowed to be 5 cents per kilowatt hour," said the energy expert of the verbraucherzentrale bundesverband, holger krawinkel, to the deutsche presse agentur in berlin. With the levy laid down in the renewable energies act (EEG), consumers pay for the demand for energy from the sun, biomass and wind through the price of electricity. Krawinkel therefore brought a reduction or suspension of the electricity tax into play.
This year the levy is 3.59 cents per kilowatt hour. For a household with a consumption of 3500 kilowatt hours, the demand costs add up to 125 euros per year. A deficit of 1.5 to two billion euros could build up in the pay-as-you-go account by the end of the year, said krawinkel. There are several reasons for this. "On the one hand, we have already had much more wind and solar energy production in the spring than was assumed."This is due to the weather, but also to the construction of new solar plants. The government therefore wants to reduce the requirement by up to 30 percent. But the states are blocking this because they fear for their solar companies.
In addition, there were costs due to a new market premium, with which eco-electricity is to be marketed directly. In addition, exemption regulations for energy-intensive companies had a positive impact. This would spread the levy over fewer shoulders, krawinkel said. Especially for lower income groups this will become a problem.
"If we take the chancellor seriously, who said that the EEG levy should not exceed 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour, then everything above that would have to be financed from the state budget," said krawinkel, bringing a reduction or suspension of the electricity tax into play. "She makes two cents."If the levy goes up by 1.5 cents, the electricity tax must be reduced accordingly. Because rising grid fees are also being added, a complete suspension could also be considered.
The loss of revenue from the electricity tax of several billion euros would then have to be compensated via the state budget. "This way there would be a higher level of distributive justice."Another option would be a state subsidy for the EEG account, as in the case of pension insurance. "But that was much more complicated to organize," says krawinkel.
