At the beginning of the energy transition, when the first concerns arose about the future burdens on consumers, the then Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin from the Greens announced in 2004: “It remains the case that the promotion of renewable energies only costs an average household around one euro a month – as much as a scoop of ice cream.” But it didn’t stop there. In the meantime, the green electricity subsidy cost a private household the equivalent of about 46 scoops of ice cream a month.
Chancellor Angela Merkel went one step further in 2011: the EEG surcharge for the promotion of green electricity production would not rise above 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour, she promised consumers. A few years later, the value was almost twice as high.
For wind, solar and other renewable energies, electricity customers have been asked to pay an additional 25 billion euros annually via the EEG surcharge. It was removed from traffic lights last summer because of high electricity prices.
With his planned building energy law, Economics Minister Robert Habeck apparently wanted to set a new record for the burden on private households. He did not get through in the coalition committee.
The planned obligation to replace old oil and gas heating systems that break down after 2024 with modern heating systems has been mitigated by various exceptions.
German households are already suffering from high energy costs, well into the middle class. This is not only due to the Ukraine war, but also to the – worldwide unique – double exit from coal and nuclear power and the CO2 target of the EU, which is becoming more and more ambitious.
Particularly embarrassing: Although electricity prices in this country are very high compared to other European countries, greenhouse gas emissions are hardly falling. In 2021 it even rose.
At the beginning of the energy transition, it was said: If any country can do something like this, it’s Germany. Not much has remained of that optimism.