Applications for renewables surcharge exemption rise

Energy-intensive companies have applied for exemptions from the renewables surcharge for significantly higher electricity volumes for the coming year, according to a dpa article carried by FOCUS Online. According to a response from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to a request from the Greens’ parliamentary group, a total of 2,209 companies applied for partial exemption from the electricity surcharge, the article says. The requested amount of electricity totalled 119 terawatt hours, compared to 107.4 terawatt hours requested in 2017. Member of Parliament Julia Verlinden, who serves as energy policy spokeswoman for the Green Party, said that industry is applying for surcharge exemptions for ever greater amounts of electric power, thereby increasing the electricity rates paid by small consumers. “By 2019, industrial exemptions will apply to around one-fifth of total German electricity consumption,” she said. The requests will now be examined and exemptions will apply only regarding the actual electricity consumption.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the factsheets What German households pay for power and Defining features of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).