BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The plans of the federal government for the gas and electricity price brake must be improved in some places from the point of view of deputies of the traffic light coalition groups. The Greens wanted to work in the parliamentary process to ensure that companies that received a great deal of support did not pay out any bonuses or dividends during this time, said Ingrid Nestle (Nestlé), energy policy spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group, on Thursday during the first consultations in the Bundestag .
FDP parliamentary group leader Lukas Köhler said that new systems would have to be exempted from the planned revenue skimming from the electricity price brake. The price brake should not become an investment brake.
The federal government consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP is planning a gas and electricity price brake in order to cushion the consequences of the sharp rise in prices for households and companies. A certain quota is to be subsidized by the state, and current, high market prices apply. The brakes should take effect from March, but retrospective relief is planned for January and February.
So far, no bonus or dividend ban is planned. However, there is a decision by the budget committee that provides for this. The electricity price brake is to be partly financed by skimming off the proceeds. This affects producers of green electricity from wind and sun, for example, who have recently benefited from high prices on the stock exchange.
The CDU energy politician Andreas Jung said that the price brakes would come far too late and be far too complicated. Other countries made it much easier. The levy threatens to choke off investments in renewable energies. Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch criticized that without state price controls, the price brakes would be an invitation for suppliers to “cash in”./hoe/DP/mis