Abolish the merit order principle: Habeck wants to decouple the electricity price from the gas price

Excess profits are currently also possible in electricity production because gas-fired power plants determine the prices.

Abolish the merit order principle: Habeck wants to decouple the electricity price from the gas price

Excess profits are currently also possible in electricity production because gas-fired power plants determine the prices. Economics Minister Habeck wants to end this practice at EU level - but for this he needs the approval of the member states. He rejects a cap for consumer prices.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to campaign at EU level for the electricity price to be decoupled from the gas price. Habeck said in Brussels that he hopes that there will be a provisional agreement at today's meeting with EU colleagues. This would allow the low prices of renewable energies to reach consumers "without us destroying the market mechanisms."

So far, the merit order principle has applied on the European electricity market, according to which the price is determined by the most expensive producing power plant - currently gas-fired power plants. Countries like France, the Czech Republic and Austria had therefore long been in favor of decoupling the electricity price from the gas price, while Germany tended to reject market intervention.

Habeck also confirmed the federal government's plans to introduce an electricity price brake, which is to be financed by skimming off so-called excess profits that energy companies post because of the high electricity prices. Such a cap is "also conceivable for gas, but unlike the electricity market, there are currently no excess profits in gas," said Habeck. Habeck found a price cap directly on consumer prices to be "not right".

With regard to a price cap on gas imports from Russia proposed by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the minister referred to the other member states. "The countries that still get gas from Russia have to decide that," said Habeck. Germany no longer gets Russian gas.

At the emergency meeting of the EU energy ministers, they want to find a quick solution to the high electricity prices. To this end, the EU Commission had proposed, among other things, to limit excessive profits from electricity producers who can currently produce cheaply and make high profits.