Status: 01/30/2022 5:31 p.m
Finance Minister Lindner has joined demands from local authorities and industry to abolish the EEG surcharge more quickly. According to the coalition agreement, the end of this is not planned until 2023.
In view of the high energy prices, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner considers it conceivable that the EEG surcharge on the electricity price will be abolished this summer. “If the coalition agrees on this, then I would make it financially possible for the EEG surcharge to be dropped in the middle of the year,” the FDP chairman told the “Spiegel”.
Previously, demands for faster relief had come from industry, the Union and the Association of Towns and Municipalities. According to the Association of Towns and Municipalities, a four-person household with a consumption of 4000 kilowatt hours would save around 150 euros a year without the EEG surcharge.
The levy will continue until 2023
According to the coalition agreement of the traffic light parties SPD, FDP and Greens, the end of the EEG surcharge is actually not planned until 2023. “In view of the increased prices, I think an earlier abolition is necessary,” emphasized Lindner. “That would be billions in relief for families, pensioners, recipients of student loans or basic security and medium-sized businesses and crafts.”
From the parliamentary space there is support from the parliamentary group leaders of the FDP and SPD. “I also see that as a work order,” said the finance minister. When asked whether the Greens still had to be convinced, he said: “No, the goal is shared across parties. There are also voices from the Union. So we should do it.”
Habeck also for quick dismantling
Economics Minister Robert Habeck recently said that the EEG surcharge should be reduced “as early as possible” and “as far as possible”.
At the beginning of the year, the levy was reduced from 6.5 to 3.72 cents per kilowatt hour. The current plans of the traffic light coalition envisage that the levy on the electricity price will then be completely eliminated from 2023 and that the expansion of green electricity will be financed from budget funds.