Federal government pays first billion into EEG account

12.02.2024


Source: Energy & Management Powernews

In January, the federal government's Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) prevented the EEG account from slipping into the red. It was the first advance payment since 2021.

In January, the federal government paid the first advance payment of 1.061 billion euros into the EEG account to keep it in the black and maintain the promotion of renewable energy systems. This is according to a publication by the transmission system operators (TSOs) on February 9, who administer the account in trust. However, the balance continued to shrink in the first month of the year, falling by 145 million to 746 million euros.

This means that the next of a total of ten tranches from the federal government's Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) is likely to be necessary this month so that the TSOs, as pure trustees, do not have to take out loans for the payments. Last year, Enervis predicted a subsidy requirement of 10.61 billion euros for this year on behalf of the TSOs. The payment corresponds to exactly one tenth of this amount.

Until July 2022, the EEG account was still mainly financed by the EEG surcharge, which brought in billions of euros per month and was then abolished. By then, a credit balance of a good 17 billion euros had accumulated because the federal government had injected an additional 10.7 billion euros in 2021 and because the marketed subsidized green electricity generated higher wholesale revenues than before in the midst of the energy crisis. As these fell and the expansion of renewables continued, the increase has gradually dwindled since the second half of 2022.

In January 2024, income from the marketing of subsidized green electricity of 103 million euros was offset by payments to plant operators of 1.3 billion euros. By comparison: In January 2023, the financing account - during a higher trading price level - was almost self-sustaining, with 140 million euros in income and only 194 million euros in payments.

The monthly EEG account statements from 2010 and January 2024 can be viewed and downloaded on a transparency page of the TSOs .

Author: Georg Eble