Germany’s environment and economy ministers, coalition partners from different parties who have clashed over the country’s shift from nuclear power, forged a joint plan to slow power-price increases caused by subsidies for renewable energy.
The agreement by Environment Minister Peter Altmaier and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler includes reduced compensation for both existing and new renewable sites and fewer exceptions for energy-intensive companies, Altmaier’s ministry said in a statement. The proposals limit the surcharge consumers pay for funding renewables to 5.28 euro cents (7.04 cents) a kilowatt-hour next year and an annual increase to 2.5 percent in future.
The deal, which would save consumers an estimated 1.86 billion euros in 2014, sets up an election-year conflict between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and opposition-controlled states, which can block the changes in the upper house. Both ministers are holding talks with regional officials today.
“The states have to look very carefully at whether they want to back or reject this brake on power prices,” Roesler said today on ARD television. “Whoever refuses the model will be politically responsible for any further price increase.”
