Most consumers favour competitive electricity market, blame green energy levy for rising prices

German consumers overwhelmingly support an open and competitive electricity market, while many blame the country’s green energy levy and additional taxes for rising electricity costs, Kathrin Witsch writes in Handelsblatt, citing a survey conducted by energy provider Lekker Energie. Some 80 percent of respondents said they had benefitted from the freedom of choice in the electricity market, and many said prices would be much higher without the liberalisation of the market. Half of all respondents said high power prices were due to taxes and duties, while 20 percent believed that price increases were mainly due to the energy transition. More than half of the price for a kilowatt hour electricity in Germany are indeed levies and taxes, with the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) surcharge and grid charges accounting for the largest part.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet What German households pay for power.