In the media: Lower power prices, PV job losses, Vattenfall

Stuttgarter Nachrichten

"The transition works"

The cut in retail power prices announced by EnBW - one of the four largest utilities in Germany - for most of its 2.5 million customers, shows an epochal shift, writes Walther Rosenberger in a commentary for the regional daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten. Subsidies for renewable energy weigh on consumer budgets but also push down wholesale prices, he says. "That EnBW passes on these cheap wholesale prices to costumers is positive - but also overdue," he says.

The newspaper also runs an article saying that the power bill for an average household of three would fall by 1.4 per cent thanks to this first price cut since 1999.

The other regional papers for the Southern state of Baden-Württemberg - EnBW's home state - also run the story.

Read the commentary in German here.

Read the article in German here.

Find EnBW's press release in German here.

Deutsche Welle

"Fewer jobs in the renewables sector"

The slowdown of the energy transition led to job losses in the renewables sector in 2013 due to cuts in the solar industry, Gero Rueter writes on the website of broadcaster Deutsche Welle, citing studies conducted on behalf of the German government. Employment in the wind power industry continued to rise.

Read the article in German here.

The Guardian

"Swedish energy company Vattenfall plans sale of German coal operations"

Karl Mathiesen writes in the Guradian that the move would enable the energy company, which is owned by the Swedish state, to meet emissions targets without reducing pollution.

Read the article here.