In view of significant price increases for households due to the new state gas levy, the pressure on the federal government for additional relief is already increasing in the autumn. Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) called on the federal government to put together a new relief package for the citizens. SPD leader Saskia Esken announced that her party would "make another attempt to introduce an excess profit tax for corporations that enrich themselves from the crisis."
The head of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, Ramona Pop, told the editorial network Germany that a relief package for low-income households was necessary before the gas levy came: "The most important thing is to act quickly: if the gas levy comes, the aid package must be in place."
Miersch for tailor-made measures
SPD faction deputy Matthias Miersch told the German Press Agency on Saturday that there would not be another relief package. "Instead, a large number of tailor-made measures are required at the various levels. These should start to take effect in the autumn."
The state gas levy is to be introduced in October for companies and private households. It is intended to benefit gas suppliers who have to buy replacement gas volumes from Russia at high prices. The federal government had decided on the surcharge as part of the rescue package for the utility Uniper.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) recently named a range of 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour in which the gas surcharge will move. For an average four-person household with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, that would be 300 to 1000 euros. In addition, drastic market-driven price increases are gradually reaching customers anyway.
Ramelow told the dpa in Erfurt: "The traffic light government is currently hardly keeping an eye on social arithmetic. The main reason is the blockade of the FDP." He called for a special prime ministerial conference with the federal government.
The government had announced further relief when announcing the levy. At the beginning of next year there is to be a housing benefit reform, and the group of beneficiaries is to be expanded. Also on January 1, 2023, a citizen’s allowance is to come, which is to replace the previous Hartz IV system. In the coalition, however, the exact conditions are still controversial. The government also wants to review rules on protection against dismissal so that tenants who are overwhelmed cannot have their rental contracts terminated or energy customers can have their supply contracts terminated.
Miersch said that other parts of the relief packages that have already been decided will first reach the citizens in the coming weeks. "Many will feel the additional burdens in autumn and winter, so that now all bodies have to explain again and again that everyone contributes to the economical use of energy. Citizens and companies are affected, but also all other facilities such as sports and educational facilities."
Anyone who receives Hartz IV and saves on heating should benefit financially, according to a proposal by the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Lukas Köhler. "For many people, the significantly increased prices are the most important incentive to save gas," said Köhler to the editorial network Germany. "However, anyone who receives unemployment benefit II does not have this incentive, since the costs are usually completely covered by the job center."
Köhler continued: "To change that, I propose that the ALG-II recipients be financially involved in the saved heating costs in the future." If you use less gas than in previous years, you will then be paid a large part of the heating costs saved as a result. "In this way, economical heating would not only have an impact on gas consumption, but also directly on the account of the unemployment benefit II recipients." Köhler spoke of a "financial injection without additional costs for the taxpayer - on the contrary, because the state would ultimately benefit if part of the money saved remained in its coffers".
The joint general association was upset about the planned gas levy. "It is unacceptable that crisis winners are now also exempt from any purchasing risk," said the general manager of the welfare association, Ulrich Schneider, the editorial network Germany. Gas suppliers like Wintershall Dea reported a profit of 1.3 billion euros in the first half of 2022, RWE even 5 to 5.5 billion euros. Schneider pleaded for an "excess profit tax for companies that have generated and continue to generate extraordinarily high earnings through war and crises".
SPD chairwoman Esken told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" that it was "unacceptable that energy companies are making profits from the crisis at a time when the state is stabilizing gas suppliers with a solidarity surcharge or even with taxpayers' money". That is rightly felt to be a great injustice. The FDP rejects an excess profit tax, partly because it cannot be applied precisely. Habeck is also in favor of an excess profit tax.
