Status: 12/15/2022 1:03 p.m
The Bundestag has approved the gas price brake. It should take effect from March, but will also apply retrospectively to January and February. For financing, high proceeds from energy producers are partially skimmed off.
Anyone who consumes gas or district heating in Germany can calculate a statutory maximum price for at least part of their needs in the coming year. The Bundestag passed the law for the so-called gas price brake. Consumers as well as companies and institutions should thus be relieved of the sharp rise in energy prices.
In a roll-call vote, the plans of the traffic light coalition received a majority. Parliament also wanted to vote on the electricity price brake on Thursday.
After weeks of negotiations, the Bundestag decides on energy price brakes for 2023
Nicole Kohnert, ARD Berlin, daily news at 12:00 p.m., December 15, 2022
The law passed for the gas price cap stipulates that the gas price for private customers and smaller companies for 80 percent of the previous year’s consumption will be limited to twelve cents per kilowatt hour, and that for district heating to 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The price of electricity for private consumers and small and medium-sized companies is also to be capped at 40 cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of the previous year’s consumption.
The price caps are to be implemented in March, but will also apply retrospectively from January. The regulation is limited to the end of April 2024. In total, the relief from the maximum price applies for 16 months. Price caps are also planned for large industrial companies from the beginning of the year.
The Bundestag has added a bonus and dividend ban to the federal government’s draft laws. According to the law, companies that are relieved of more than 25 million euros by the energy price cap are not allowed to grant any bonuses or comparable benefits.