Energy prices are rising rapidly and politicians are struggling to come up with solutions to relieve consumers. The state CDU wants to spread the burden across everyone's shoulders and thus keep direct energy costs in check.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is calling for a consistent cap on energy prices in order to protect private consumers and companies from the exploding costs. According to the ideas of state party and parliamentary group leader Franz-Robert Liskow, the upper price limit for oil, gas and electricity should be a maximum of 30 percent above the costs that applied before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. "The 30 percent surcharge on the costs from February 24th, 2022 is on the one hand an efficiency incentive, on the other hand it represents a burden to be shouldered at least for the majority of households," explained Liskow on Thursday in Schwerin.
Although this is a significant intervention in the market, he sees no sensible alternative. The currently high energy prices are the result of political decisions. The consequences of this should not be passed on to consumers. "Accordingly, I demand that the rising energy prices be cushioned by public funds," emphasized Liskow.
Where the price cap is not sufficient, government support programs should also provide help. The differences between the respective market prices and the price ceilings would also be at the expense of the public budgets, which according to Liskow would have "certain leeway" as a result of the sharp increase in VAT revenue. "A grossly senseless levy system such as the gas levy would be dropped," said the opposition politician. The energy summit convened by the red-red state government at the beginning of the week also spoke out in favor of capping energy prices for basic needs.
The massive increase in purchase prices for fossil fuels is currently reflected in the conclusion of new contracts, but customers with a guaranteed fixed price must expect substantial price increases after the end of the contract. According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, a household with an annual natural gas consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) paid an average of 310 euros per month in August or 3717 euros for a year. That corresponds to a price of 18.6 cents per kilowatt hour. Compared to August 2021, this is an increase of 185 percent, almost tripling the price.
From October the gas surcharge will be added, which is 2.419 cents per kWh. With two additional allocations for network control (balancing energy) and gas storage, the total is 3.26 cents per kilowatt hour, including 7 percent VAT. To relieve the burden, the federal government wants to reduce the VAT rate on natural gas from the current 19 to 7 percent for a limited period of time.
