Funding for renewables getting out of hand
BMWi, Germany: The four transmission system operators have today announced an EEG levy increase of 3.592 cent to 5.277 cent per kilowatt hour from 2013. Similar to last year, reductions for energy-intensive industrial companies are currently equal to less than one fifth of the energy levy. According to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), electricity producers who use renewable energy sources are given priority when feeding electricity into the power grid. They are also entitled to subsidy payments of the same amount for the next 20 years. This year, electricity consumers will pay over 14 billion euros due to the energy levy. Today’s announcement of an increase in the energy levy in 2013 means that costs are set to rise to around 20 billion euros next year. Source: http://www.bmwi.de/English/Navigation/Press/press-releases,did=520702.html