High energy prices: Habeck announces change in law - "Can't just stay without consequences"

Created: 01/27/2022, 11:32 am

Gas and electricity prices continue to rise and low-cost energy providers have taken advantage of this.

But Economics Minister Robert Habeck now wants to intervene.

Berlin - In view of the high gas and electricity prices and the reactions of energy discounters, Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to intervene by law.

People would have initially accepted a supposedly cheap offer in good faith, which would now have become significantly more expensive, said the Green politician on Tuesday at an energy conference in Berlin.

"It can't just be left without consequences.

Legal changes will come.”

Habeck would like to make electricity and gas prices more transparent

The heavily liberalized electricity and gas market must at least become more transparent here.

People who wanted to save shouldn't end up being cheated.

The winter with the high heating costs is a real burden for many people.

"You have to say that very clearly."

Many discounters had offered cheap prices on the energy market, which were usually initially guaranteed for one year.

On the one hand, companies are speculating that customers will stay with them even if the price increases.

On the other hand, they buy electricity or gas at short notice on the spot market in order to be able to supply customers.

The prices there have recently risen particularly sharply.

Discounters have sometimes simply stopped supplying their customers and terminated the contracts, which is legally questionable.

The customers then fall back on the default suppliers, who in turn have to buy electricity for them at high prices and pass this on to the new customers.

Habeck: Accelerated expansion of renewable energies makes electricity cheaper

The minister emphasized that the accelerated expansion of renewable energies would at least make electricity cheaper in the medium and long term.

This can already be observed on the stock exchanges: "Whenever the wind blows strongly, the prices go down." In the short term, the electricity price will be dampened, in which the surcharge for green electricity subsidies will be completely abolished from 2023.

Last year, this accounted for more than a fifth of the price paid to consumers.

Habeck admitted that the jump in prices was also difficult for companies to cope with.

You have to help there too, he said without giving any further details.

But the right way is to get out of fossil fuels.

Certain industries will be helped, for example, with the conversion to hydrogen with so-called climate agreements.

As long as the use of hydrogen is more expensive than that of gas, for example, the state compensates for the difference.

At some point over the term of the contracts, this will turn around and the companies will pay back amounts.

Basically, the companies will be provided with what is needed via these so-called Carbon Contracts for Difference, said the minister when asked about the financing.