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Energy-intensive industry: an electric arc furnace for steel production in Hamburg
Photo: Christian Charisius / picture alliance / dpa
The wholesale electricity price is on the hunt for records.
On the futures market of the EEX energy exchange, one megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity to be delivered in the coming year currently costs just under 70 euros.
The wholesale price, which is the basis for many contracts with industrial customers, has not been so high for twelve years, according to an evaluation by the »Handelsblatt«.
In March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, a megawatt hour on the energy exchange cost 35 euros, i.e. only half.
The price is driven, among other things, by the steep rise in the price of CO2.
A trend reversal is therefore not in sight (the complete »Handelsblatt« report can be found here).
The increase in the price of electricity through CO2 pricing is politically desirable.
The idea behind this is that the higher costs of consuming fossil energy sources mean that companies and consumers have an incentive to reduce their consumption - and thereby lower CO2 emissions in the medium term.
FDP calls for relief for companies
Most recently, however, the debate about petrol prices, which are also rising as a result of the price of CO2, has shown that parts of politics have difficulties in sticking to their fundamental commitment to more climate protection as soon as there are complaints about higher pollution. Representatives of the Union and the SPD joined in the anger over rising fuel prices - although they had set the course for it themselves.
"For many companies, especially medium-sized companies, this is a shock," warns Wolfgang Hahn, managing director of ECG Energie Consulting GmbH, which arranges energy contracts for companies.
"The electricity prices are increasingly becoming a burden for many companies." Energy politicians are already calling for relief for industry.
"Electricity costs are an important location factor," said FDP parliamentary group Vice Michael Theurer to the "Handelsblatt" - and called for countermeasures to be taken in the case of taxes and levies: "State cost components account for over half of electricity prices."
trembling
