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Headquarters of the Berliner Stromnetzgesellschaft: back to the state
Photo: Christoph Soeder / dpa
The Berlin electricity network was privatized in the mid-1990s - now it is back in state hands: the Berlin Senate has decided to take over the Berliner Stromnetz-Gesellschaft from the energy group Vattenfall.
The examination by the state showed that "a takeover of the company and thus also the power grid is possible under financially reasonable conditions and that Vattenfall's offer should therefore be accepted," said the Berlin Senate. Overall, the takeover of the power grid will cost the State of Berlin 2.143 billion euros.
The purchase of Stromnetz Berlin GmbH is to be financed with loans and the assumption of state guarantees.
According to Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz (SPD), no tax money should be used to buy the power grid.
In the future, the income from the Berlin electricity network would no longer flow to Vattenfall's account, but to Berlin, said Kollatz.
This is a "small three-digit million amount".
These revenues would finance the electricity grid and at the same time increase the wealth of the people in Berlin.
"The power grid is critical to the Senate in several ways," said Kollatz.
It is both a “key industry for the energy transition” and a “central communal infrastructure”.
This can also be "meaningfully further developed" in the public sector.
The deal still has to be submitted to the Berlin House of Representatives for approval. An ongoing process to conclude a new concession agreement for the power supply network is to be terminated in parallel with the deal. The electricity company Vattenfall had offered the state of Berlin to take over the power supply network in October 2020. The current employees of the company as well as other Vattenfall employees dealing with the electricity grid are also to become the responsibility of the state.
It is gratifying that "on the basis of the fair offer from Vattenfall we have now succeeded in showing a very good path to the desired remunicipalisation of the electricity infrastructure," explained Kollatz.
In this way, the state could “concentrate on the development of the electricity infrastructure, investments and the implementation of the energy transition in Berlin” in the future.
The Berlin Greens welcomed the purchase of the power grid.
"Together with the Berliner Stadtwerke and the then state-owned Stromnetz Berlin, we have two important tools in hand to drive the energy transition in Berlin even more and to achieve our climate protection goals," said the Berlin parliamentary group leader Silke Gebel.
Criticism from the opposition
The left-wing parliamentary group in Berlin also praised the move.
She calls for a "municipal network operator who is committed to climate protection, expands the power grid for the growing feed-in of renewable energies, is bound by comprehensive transparency rules and provides opportunities for Berliners to participate," explained the spokesman for energy and climate policy for the Berlin parliamentary group. Michael Efler.
The energy policy spokesman for the Berlin FDP parliamentary group, Henner Schmidt, criticized the decision.
"The state of Berlin is now paying more than 2 billion euros to Vattenfall, without being able to really influence the restructuring of the energy supply, since the power grid is very tightly regulated," explained Schmidt.
The purchase price was set too high, this was "a bad deal for the State of Berlin."
The budget spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group in Berlin, Christian Goiny, also expressed criticism.
"The Senate has no idea what to actually improve on the power grid," he said.
So far, the power supply has functioned »reliably, at stable prices and efficiently«.
mic / afp