The Union is calling on the federal government to develop an app to prevent households from being relieved of the high energy costs, which do not even need it. The association of municipal companies praises the proposal, but sees problems in its implementation.
The Association of Municipal Enterprises has been cautiously positive about the Union's proposal to replace the planned gas price brake with a digital solution only for needy households. "The proposal sounds interesting, as an energy money can be easily implemented," said VKU general manager Ingbert Liebing ntv.de.
Liebing said the proposal had to be checked for feasibility and effort. "Above all, the energy suppliers could only contribute consumption per delivery point, but no socially differentiated data that households would have to contribute digitally themselves. How such a control could take place remains open and is probably also a major obstacle."
The CDU members of the Bundestag Thomas Heilmann and Mark Helfrich had suggested "giving more help to those who really need it, instead of supporting everyone with a watering can - even those who are already able to perform". To this end, the state should have an app developed that can calculate how much support each citizen receives. According to their concept, the data should be made available to consumers by the energy suppliers and tax authorities. Citizens would then have to read them into the app themselves using a QR code.
Liebing pointed out that the Federal Government's Gas/Heat Commission had also called for socially differentiated direct payments and the necessary development of a corresponding set of instruments. "The VKU has supported this for a long time."
