The abolition of the EEG surcharge is planned for January 1, 2023, but could be brought forward. This could save consumers money. But there are also critics.
Berlin – The abolition of the EEG surcharge was already brought into play by the former Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU). According to the coalition agreement, the end of the EEG surcharge is scheduled for January 1, 2023. In particular, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) wants to abolish the EEG surcharge this summer. Renewable energies should then no longer be financed via the electricity price, but completely via budget funds.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and the new Greens leader Ricarda Lang have already spoken out in favor of it. However, parts of the Greens are against it. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is said to have agreed to abolish the EEG surcharge on July 1, as reported by Spiegel. However, a spokesman for Robert Habeck rejected the reports on Thursday (February 2nd, 2022) that the EEG surcharge would end prematurely. The process is still being checked. The arguments for and against abolishing the financing of the EEG surcharge through the electricity price at a glance:
Abolition of the EEG surcharge and the electricity bill: consumers could save so much money
What does the abolition of the EEG surcharge mean in concrete terms for the electricity bill? The calculations for this still differ. According to Robert Habeck, an average German household could save around 300 euros a year by eliminating the EEG surcharge, as reported by Der Spiegel.
As early as 2022, the EEG surcharge will be reduced by a federal subsidy of almost 3.3 billion euros. According to calculations by the taxpayers’ association, this amounts to less than one cent per kilowatt hour, as the dpa reports. With a complete cancellation in the second half of the year, a single household could save 42 euros this year. According to the calculations, a family of four would have 89 euros more. The taxpayers’ association assumes that a family consumes 4000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year and a single person 1900 kilowatt hours.
Electricity price: Providers do not have to pass on the relief to consumers
What speaks for the abolition of the EGG surcharge? Consumers could be financially relieved. The abolition of the EEG surcharge could also make the energy transition less bureaucratic, say proponents. The levy that consumers pay on the electricity bill is currently acting as a brake on innovation, for example, said the head of the German Energy Agency, Andreas Kuhlmann, to the dpa in 2020.
Do consumers feel the abolition at all? Thorsten Müller, scientific director of the Würzburg Foundation for Environmental Energy Law, told Spiegel that initially only the providers benefited from the relief. According to the current legal situation, the state cannot force them to pass the reduction on to customers one-to-one.
The question is whether the relief actually reaches the customers. Green parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden emphasized that this is particularly important and added: “That was not always the case when the EEG surcharge was reduced in the past. We have to pay special attention to this in the specific design.”
Energy expert: Electricity prices will not fall, but increases can be prevented
For energy expert Claudia Kemfert, it is also questionable whether the electricity suppliers will pass on the abolition of the EEG levy to customers. The assessment of energy expert Claudia Kemfert: “Since the exchange electricity prices are currently very high, it is to be expected that the electricity prices will not fall. But at least a very strong increase can perhaps be avoided.” Kemfert suggests relieving households by means of a per capita reimbursement of the CO2 income, especially households with low incomes.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations is also demanding that the amounts paid in for CO2 pricing be paid back to households in full. That is more important than the abolition of the EEG surcharge. “We know from the past that price-reducing factors are passed on less quickly or not at all, whereas price-increasing factors are passed on to consumers quickly and often disproportionately,” agrees Kemfert.
Saving electricity by abolishing the EEG levy: experts disagree
That speaks for the EEG surcharge? Climate expert Claudia Kemfert argues that since the introduction of the EEG, the costs of renewable energies have fallen enormously. They are now far cheaper than conventional energies. “The EEG goal of enabling renewable energies to enter the market was successfully implemented through the – apparently cleverly developed – effective instrument, including adjustments to the framework conditions. The EEG brought renewable energies onto the market,” writes the energy expert on her website.
“In terms of pure funding costs, we are even seeing a drop in the levy. That is the return on success of the EEG, which is only insufficiently visible due to the current turmoil on the electricity markets. Renewables lower electricity prices on the exchange and at the same time fall victim to their own success due to inadequate calculation methods,” says Dr. Simone Peter, President of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE). It should be emphasized here that the construction of new EEG plants hardly increases the surcharge. In 2021 it will only be around 0.1 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). “At the same time, existing systems that reduce the EEG surcharge will no longer be eligible for funding in the next few years,” Peter continues. “The current system of taxes and surcharges urgently needs to be reformed and realigned with the mainstay of the energy market, renewable energies.”
Abolition of the EEG surcharge: How do consumers benefit?
But how could renewable energies be financed instead? In the future, the EEG surcharge is to be financed almost entirely from budget funds. In 2020, the German Energy Agency, together with the Financial Research Institute of the University of Cologne and the Environmental Energy Law Foundation, proposed doubling the electricity tax from 2.05 cents per kilowatt hour by 2030. This is intended to finance the abolition of the EEG surcharge. Electricity is currently taxed at 19 percent of the net price. Electricity tax accounts for 7 percent of an electricity bill.
dr Simone Peter, President of the Federal Association of Renewable Energy eV, on the other hand, finds: “In addition to the EEG surcharge, which is currently on a downward path and does not represent a price driver, politicians have other options to increase electricity prices by reducing surcharges and taxes limit.”
In general, the massive fluctuations in the electricity price clearly showed that the switch to renewable energy must be accelerated enormously in order to ensure a clean and affordable energy supply, according to Julia Verlinden, Vice President of the Greens. (df, dpa)
List of rubrics: © Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
