Contrary to what parts of the state government have repeatedly claimed, the nuclear phase-out last year did not make electricity costs more expensive in Bavaria. “The nuclear phase-out has no price impact at all on the electricity market,” said Norbert Zösch, managing director of Stadtwerke Haßfurt, in the environmental committee of the Bavarian state parliament on Thursday. From an economic point of view, nuclear power plants even have the highest generation costs, according to the statement from the Bavarian Consumer Service. “It was only through government subsidies that nuclear power could be traded at competitive prices.”
Many critics of the nuclear phase-out, including CSU boss Markus Söder, Free Voters leader Hubert Aiwanger and large parts of the CDU/CSU, FDP and AfD, repeatedly declare that Germany can only have permanently low and reliable energy prices by using nuclear energy. Last year, the Federal Network Agency also declared unnecessary concerns that electricity prices in Germany have been rising since the last nuclear power plants were taken off the grid. In addition to Zösch (“The expansion of renewable energies clearly has a price-dampening effect”), the Bavarian Consumer Center also expressly spoke out in favor of a renewable energy supply – it “fundamentally supports a rapid expansion of renewable energies and the associated necessary expansion of the network infrastructure”.
The climate laws passed by the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria also formed the basis for future-oriented, reliable decisions and developments for private households. For the future, it is important that prices for private households are calculable and stable. To do this, the network fees would have to be distributed fairly and consumers should not shoulder the main burden. The digitalization of the electricity market with variable tariffs would offer opportunities here.
Eva Fuchs, Chairwoman of the Bavarian Consumer Service, emphasized that it is important that consumers clearly understand how energy supply costs arise. “Prices must be fair and transparent,” she said. Users should be able to easily choose between the offers and their needs. The current high energy prices are only partly caused by the energy transition.
Heidemarie Krause-Böhm from the consumer advice center explained that stable prices also require efficient regulation of the energy markets. In Bavaria, prices fell at the beginning of the year, but some providers are already talking about price increases from March.
Only the wind power opponent Volker Tschischke from the Reason Force NRW association, who was invited by the AfD, tried to denigrate wind energy in his statements. This is anything but a clean form of energy, it is just an “illusory truth” because the plants process oil and radioactive substances. In addition, wind turbines produce harmful noise.