Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Economics Minister Reinhard Meyer (SPD) has again brought up the introduction of different electricity price zones, should there not be solidarity financing of the network charges by spring. "It cannot be that others like in the south of the republic rest on the laurels that we supply the renewable energies and then we also have the highest costs," said Meyer on Thursday in the state parliament in Schwerin. That cannot be explained to the citizens. The higher costs in the north are one of the main reasons for the lack of acceptance among the population for the necessary expansion of green electricity production, for example through wind turbines.
According to the Federal Network Agency, grid fees of 8 to 11 cents per kilowatt hour are levied in northern Germany, compared to 5 to 8 cents in the south. The reason for this is the regionally different expenses for grid expansion and compensation for the standstill of wind turbines to protect against grid overloads. According to Meyer, all efforts to regulate the costs nationwide have failed so far. For this reason, in September the department heads of the northern German non-city states called for Germany to be divided into different electricity price zones at the expense of southern Germany. This triggered massive protests in Bavaria.
Meyer reminded that the federal government will contribute almost 13 billion euros to the financing of the large transmission networks. The Federal Ministry of Economics has now announced a solution proposal for the regional distribution grids for early 2023. "We've heard that for a long time now. We will now look at the first quarter of 2023 and otherwise we will present a Federal Council initiative ourselves," announced Meyer.
A motion for the standardization of network charges submitted by the SPD and left-wing factions was also approved by the FDP and the Greens. The CDU supported the demand, but abstained from voting, pointing out the imminent disadvantages of the forthcoming network expansion in the south. The AfD renewed its fundamental rejection of the energy transition by expanding wind and solar power production.
