The Climate Policy Network

Man-Made Energy Crisis
800.000 German Households Can No Longer Pay Their Energy Bills

 The Germans are facing the biggest electricity price increase in a decade. And that is just the beginning. By 2030, they will have spent more than 300 billion Euros on green electricity. --Welt am Sonntag, 14 October 2012

 Germany’s consumers are facing record price rises for green energy. Especially for small household budgets – with real incomes more or less stagnant for many years – energy costs are becoming increasingly intolerable. In 2009, Germans spent about 100 billion Euros for energy – an average of 2,500 Euros per household. Social campaigners and consumer groups complain that up to 800 000 households in Germany can no longer pay their electric bills. If the rise in energy prices continues, this “second rent” could soon exceed the main rent in some parts of Germany. --Focus Magazin, 15 October 2012

While social organisations warn about “fuel poverty” rising in Germany, the industry complains about deteriorating competitiveness. According to a recent survey by the Association of Industrial Power Industry, Germany already occupies the fourth place on the list of highest industrial electricity prices in the world. In many Asian and European countries, electricity is more than 30 percent cheaper for companies, in the U.S. or Russia it is cheaper by more than 50 percent. Investment decisions, the industry association warns, therefore, increasingly threaten to go against Germany. --Welt am Sonntag, 14 October 2012

The head of Germany's powerful employers' lobby group is criticizing the government for failing to keep the costs of phasing out nuclear power in check. German Employers Association chairman Dieter Hundt said Tuesday the government must end "the madness of subsidies" for renewable energies, saying they threaten the nation's competitiveness. --Associated Press, 16 October 2012

Germany’s switch to renewable energies is driving up electricity bills across the country, with a green technology surcharge set to rise by nearly 50 percent next year. With frustration over the high price tag, it promises to become a key issue in next year’s election campaign.  Voters may start to withdraw their support for the green energy transition. --Spiegel Online, 16 October 2012

Renewable energy is the future, say environmentalists. But for green and ethical investors it has turned into a nightmare, with makers of wind and solar power systems among the worst-performing stocks in recent years. -- Patrick Collinson, The Guardian, 12 October 2012