08/10/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The federal government is expected to have to spend less money to curb the rise in gas prices in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
According to a study by the Ifo Institute in Munich, the federal government will only need 13.1 billion euros to cap gas prices at 12 cents/kWh for 80 percent of consumption. Industry is to pay the highest 7 cents/kWh.
The energy price brakes (for electricity, gas and district heating) are effective from January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. In addition, the federal government paid the down payments of private households and small businesses for December 2022. The Federal Government had provided for the energy price brakes a total budget of about 83 billion euros, including 40.3 billion for gas and district heating.
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, 18 billion euros have been spent so far on capping gas and electricity prices. In addition, there were 4.7 billion euros for the one-time payments in December 2022. Which funds of it flowed to smaller companies, the Ministry can not (yet) say. Large consumers, however, had been relieved by 5.1 billion euros for electricity and by 1.3 billion euros for gas and heat.
The Ifo assumes that of the 13.1 billion euros for the gas and heat brake over the entire period (1.1.23 to 31.3.24) 12.4 billion.euros will be spent on private households and smaller companies, as well as 700 million euros for industry. Gas-fired power plants and larger residential units would not be relieved at all, says Max Lay of the Ifo Institute.
The reason for the good news is the more favorable development of energy prices compared to the assumptions made. Private customers would hardly conclude new supply contracts at a gas price above 12 cents, and industrial customers have been paying no more than 7 cents per kilowatt hour for months: "In 2024, we expect zero expenditure." While the energy markets have calmed, Lay says, estimates of the cost to the state remain fraught with uncertainty, especially since the price guarantees apply only to certain volumes.
Author: Tom Weingärtner
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