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With the amendment of the Green Electricity Act (EEG), any incentive to save energy threatens to fall by the wayside.

The climate impact of the “Renewable Energy Act 2021” is even partially counteracted by an absurd requirement: Those who save electricity will be punished.

That at least applies to industrial companies that benefit from the so-called special compensation regulation in the law.

Accordingly, companies with particularly high electricity costs only have to pay a fraction of the EEG surcharge.

This should protect them from disadvantages in international competition.

But as sensible as the rule is, it is nonsensical.

Because if the electricity cost intensity of a company falls below a certain, hard threshold, the companies fall out of the relief regulation of the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

The disincentive twisted the meaning of the EEG

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The full EEG surcharge is then far more significant than possible electricity cost savings.

Therefore, many companies shy away from measures that could significantly reduce electricity consumption.

"The government draft," criticizes Christian Noll, head of the German Corporate Initiative Energy Efficiency eV (DENEFF), "continues to ignore this long-known grievance." its opposite - and has a particularly stressful effect on low-wage earners.

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"As the electricity consumption increases, so does the effort for converting energy generation and network expansion," emphasizes the DENEFF boss: "Most of the costs for this are borne by all non-beneficiary companies and consumers."

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The initiative estimates the annual savings potential on the order of several large power plants.

This would be the disincentive to unnecessarily high electricity consumption

Finally eliminated, this could trigger massive investments in companies in more efficient lighting, compressed air systems, drives, motors, pumps, ventilation, cooling systems controls and energy management systems.

Energy efficiency is not a niche issue.

Eco-associations are already accusing the federal government of artificially calculating the electricity demand in 2030 in order to save the construction and financing of additional wind and solar systems.

The electrification of traffic and heating energy by means of heat pumps, so the criticism, will increase the electricity consumption significantly in this decade.

However, the federal government expects electricity consumption to remain relatively stable until 2030.

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In making this assessment, she refers to studies such as those by Prognos.

The increased demand for electric cars and heat pumps can therefore be offset by efficiency gains.

Why is power saving so neglected by the government?

If the achievement of the politically intensely discussed share of green electricity depends largely on the efficiency gains, it needs to be explained why energy saving is so neglected by politicians.

In any case, the trend is wrong: According to current calculations by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen (AGEB), Germany was "unable to meet expectations of a continuous increase in energy efficiency in 2019".

According to the AGEB calculations, energy efficiency has deteriorated again, especially in industry and in the transport sector.

Private households and the commercial-trade-services sector are recording gains in energy efficiency, but they are also well below the target of 2.1 percent per year required by the federal government for total final energy consumption.

The DENEFF efficiency initiative is therefore campaigning to finally correct the problem with the current EEG amendment.

Source: WORLD infographic

Electricity efficiency should no longer lead to a loss of preferential treatment.

To remedy this, DENEFF suggests crediting companies with electricity savings through efficiency measures.

This means that they can remain in the special equalization scheme even if the ratio of gross value added and electricity consumption falls below the legal threshold.

This solution would require clarification of state aid law with the Commission, says DENEFF boss Noll: "There has been enough time for this in recent years."

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The Federation of German Industries (BDI) also admits that the EEG is still sending out the wrong signals when it comes to efficiency.

According to the BDI, the hard “cut-off limit”, above which all EEG privileges are lost when saving electricity, should be replaced by a “sliding entry” into the special equalization scheme.

The issue of efficiency was once again out of focus

"This would ensure a smooth start, eliminate uncertainty among companies and would also have a good chance of being compliant with EU subsidies," explains Carsten Rolle, Head of Energy and Climate Policy at the BDI: "The Bundestag should consider this in its deliberations on the EEG amendment It is important that any solutions are secured under state aid law. "

With the upcoming reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, as in the past, the issue of efficiency was often out of focus.

At the moment, the parties are arguing more about questions of principle, forecasts of electricity consumption and connection regulations for wind and solar parks, a large number of which will lose their EEG funding from 2020.

In view of the fundamental nature of the open questions, it is completely unclear whether the "EEG 2021" can come into force this year as planned.

The 2nd and 3rd reading in the Bundestag on December 16 would be possible.

But the fundamental question of whether and how much renewable energies want to be subsidized further remains unanswered.

Leading economists have long been calling for an end to the EEG surcharge, with which consumers pay the extra costs of green electricity production.

In the energy sector, too, many consider the systematic shortcomings of the allocation system to be unsustainable.

Even the minimal reduction in the EEG surcharge promised by the federal government will cost the tax budget around eleven billion euros over the next two years.

The Union would therefore like to include an expiry date for the EEG in the current amendment: In parallel to the coal phase-out, the subsidies for green electricity production should also be melted down.

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