Germany needs swift and complete overhaul of energy taxes, surcharges – official

The next German government will have to overhaul the country’s system of energy-related taxes and surcharges in order to allow the next phase of the energy transition, the head of the department for energy policy (heating and efficiency) at the economy ministry, Thorsten Herdan, said at the Hannover Messe, Germany’s largest industry trade fair. The burden of financing the Energiewende has so far rested entirely on electricity users, something that had to change to facilitate the integration of heating and transport into the energy transition, Herdan said. The ministry’s paper “Power 2030” and the green book on energy efficiency laid out the necessity for such a change. But shifting some of the burden to other forms of energy would produce winners and losers, Herdan said. “The commuter living in a badly insulated house” would, for example, lose out, he explained. Politicians will probably have to change the system in one go rather than in small steps in order to avoid repeated outcry and opposition.

The CLEW factsheet on how to finance the renewables expansion in the future presents a number of the proposals discussed.