Who will carry the cost of the Energiewende? Manfred Ungemach and Markus Przytulski look at the different party positions on the EEG surcharges in the upcoming federal elections. We continue our series on the competing parties’ agendas for the upcoming federal elections by focusing on the discussion who actually should be burdened with the costs of the “Energiewende”. This includes whether and which types of customers should be exempt therefrom with regard to international competition, and whether or not the increasing costs in particular resulting from EEG surcharge, but also of the extension of the grid, should be set off by reducing the electricity tax. As we have pointed out in the first blog of this series, the cost aspect has become an increasingly controversial issue over the last two years. Introduction Given in particular the increasing costs of renewable energy generation, but also of grid extensions, including the costly connection of offshore wind-farms to the grid, two major problems have arisen: Firstly, how to protect the bottom third of household customers, which has suffered … Continue reading 2013 German Election Energy Party Profiles – Part 2: Future of the EEG Surcharge and Electricity Tax