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Cogeneration plant in Bochum: Because of the high energy prices, many municipal utilities send SOS
Photo: IMAGO/Jochen Tack
The high energy prices put many municipal utilities in severe financial distress.
The North Rhine-Westphalian state government now wants to secure the liquidity of the public utility company with a protective shield of five billion euros.
The state parliament passed a corresponding amendment by the CDU and the Greens for the supplementary budget for 2022. This means that the NRW-Bank can grant liquidity loans to the municipalities involved in public utilities up to a total of five billion euros.
The opposition factions of the SPD and FDP also voted for the rescue package.
As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, an uncertain energy supply situation had arisen in Europe, the statement said.
Delivery bottlenecks and supply interruptions have led to a sharp increase in procurement prices on the energy markets.
This development does not only affect gas importers, but also municipal energy suppliers, which cover around two thirds of the gas and electricity requirements and thus play an important role in the energy supply of the population.
Currently, existing long-term supply contracts would have to be fulfilled, for example by purchasing significantly more expensive gas.
Green household expert Simon Rock said: "Due to the high prices and large fluctuations on the electricity and gas markets, the public utilities are facing enormous liquidity problems." The black-green coalition wanted to prevent public utilities from being forced into bankruptcy due to a lack of liquidity.
Since the federal government was not able to bring itself to its own rescue package for the municipal utilities, NRW is now opening its own safety package.
»Foundation of services of general interest«
Public utilities not only supply municipalities with electricity, gas and water – they often also operate swimming pools, buses and trams and take on waste disposal.
The Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU) therefore welcomed the security umbrella.
"Ability to act municipal utilities are the foundation of public services on site," said the chairman of the NRW regional group in the VKU, Guntram Pehlke.
In this way, the municipal companies could continue to finance the energy and water supply as well as local public transport and the swimming pools in NRW.
"The government has given an important signal with the protective screen."
NRW decided on the rescue package for municipal utilities one day after the federal and state governments had agreed on a billion-dollar relief package in view of rising prices and energy costs.
The federal-state decision expressly opens up the possibility of using development banks to help municipal utilities threatened by liquidity bottlenecks.
On the part of the federal government, "no willingness to a clear and reliable regulation was recognizable" in the federal-state negotiations, criticized the CDU MP Olaf Lehne.
Therefore, the NRW coalition of the CDU and the Greens have now taken the initiative.
Supplementary budget of almost one billion euros
With the votes of the black-green government factions, the NRW state parliament passed a supplementary budget of almost 900 million euros for this year.
The government made up of the CDU and the Greens, which has been in office for a good four months, wants to use the additional funds, among other things, to fulfill the first promises made in their coalition agreement.
With the addendum, money is made available for entry into the same initial salary for teachers, climate protection, security, flood protection and the care of refugees from the Ukraine.
The state government wants to raise more than 570 million euros in the current year for refugees from Ukraine alone.
1,000 new teaching posts are to be set up, specifically for teaching children and young people from Ukraine.
In addition, more than 500 new jobs will be created, 54 of them in the ministerial area due to the formation of a new government after the state elections in May.
Thanks to higher tax revenues, the country's financial leeway has increased.
The state budget for 2022 is to grow by almost 900 million to a good 88.4 billion euros with the supplement.
mic/dpa-AFX