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Electricity price brake is coming: The traffic light now wants to relieve the burden on citizens

2022-09-05T03:17:29.537Z


Electricity price brake is coming: The traffic light now wants to relieve the burden on citizens Created: 09/05/2022 05:04 By: Richard Strobl Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, 2nd from left) comes to the press conference alongside Omid Nouripour (l), Saskia Esken (r) and Christian Lindner (M), followed by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit (SPD). © Michael Kappeler/dpa The third relief package


Electricity price brake is coming: The traffic light now wants to relieve the burden on citizens

Created: 09/05/2022 05:04

By: Richard Strobl

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, 2nd from left) comes to the press conference alongside Omid Nouripour (l), Saskia Esken (r) and Christian Lindner (M), followed by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit (SPD).

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

The third relief package is in place.

The traffic light government also wants to put a brake on electricity prices.

Funded by a “random profits tax”.

Berlin - Instead of the "excess profit tax" now the "random profit tax".

The traffic light coalition wants to use this additional income to finance an electricity price brake as part of its new relief package.

This is intended to help citizens with the energy supply because of the extremely high prices.

It was apparently long and sometimes tough negotiations between the traffic light parties.

But in the end, the SPD, FDP and Greens put together a new relief package - and what a package.

The third act of the relief opera covers 65 billion euros.

The traffic light is now spending a total of 95 billion euros on the three packages.

In view of the situation, this is also “necessary”, stressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"We will not leave anyone alone," he said after the consultation and was convinced that Germany would "get through this difficult time" with the package.

Electricity price brake in the new relief package: This is how the traffic light wants to lower the electricity price

In addition to direct payments for pensioners and students, a heating subsidy for housing benefit recipients and other points, there should also be an electricity price brake.

It is intended to guarantee private households, but also small and medium-sized companies, “electricity at a discounted price” for basic consumption.

For an additional consumption beyond that, the price would not be limited.

This is not to be financed by the federal budget, but by the “random profit tax” mentioned at the beginning.

This is intended to siphon off profits from the crisis at energy companies that are not dependent on gas, which is currently expensive, for their electricity production.

Electricity price brake through "accidental profit tax": Lindner previously resisted for a long time

Lindner's FDP, which is strictly against tax increases, had long opposed the demands of the SPD and the Greens for an "excess profit tax".

The FDP boss now emphasized that it was a "measure of energy law and not, for example, of tax law".

The federal government is initially relying on an agreement at European level on the electricity price cap and excess profit tax.

However, Scholz emphasized that, if necessary, the federal government was also prepared to implement the plans “quickly” at the national level alone.

In the ZDF "summer interview" Scholz followed up and emphasized that this tax should come into force as soon as possible.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) emphasized the planned excess profit tax as "particularly important" - after all, the energy companies are currently earning "an insane amount of money".

The electricity price brake brings relief package: "Many billions to give them back"

Scholz said on ZDF that it's about profits "that have nothing to do with what you actually do economically." Those who have been successfully operating wind turbines, solar systems, coal, hydroelectric or nuclear power plants for years produce at much lower costs than those who produced electricity with gas.

"But the price of electricity is currently determined by these gas-fired power plants according to the European market design," said Scholz.

The SPD politician did not want to give any specific information on how much money could be expected from skimming off excessive profits.

That also depends on the development on the electricity markets, which can only be predicted to a limited extent.

"If there are such random, over-profits on a large scale, we have many, many billions to give back to the citizens."

(rjs / dpa / afp)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-09-05

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