German industry has long complained about the price of electricity, which it considers too high compared to other countries. This would place heavy industry at an “unjustified” disadvantage vis-à-vis China and the US.
Habeck’s plan – a minister on behalf of De Groenen – provides for a subsidized electricity price of 6 euro cents per kilowatt hour of electricity until 2030, but Scholz and the German finance ministry disagree. Treasury Secretary Lindner said yesterday there would be no budget for it.
“Even without subsidy”
According to Scholz, there are “enough regions” in Germany where energy production is quite cheap. “We don’t need grants there to enable our industry to compete with global companies.”
However, Scholz wants to achieve this goal for the whole country and said he will use “everything in his power” to achieve that goal and increase renewable energy production. “Our prices will be even lower than at present,” says Scholz. “Especially if we have achieved our goals – that renewable energy sources will dominate electricity generation in Germany.”