It is an item that often flies a little under the radar in the general public - but which is more important today than ever: Germany needs new power grids, the energy market is in turmoil, fiber optic expansion has to be speeded up.

The President of the Federal Network Agency plays a key role in this.

Klaus Müller, previously Germany's top consumer advocate, is now to take over this office.

Helmut Buender

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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From the point of view of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), the appointment of the former Green politician Müller is logical.

In business, on the other hand, the personnel causes unrest, and there is trouble in the responsible advisory board.

Some of its members feel ignored in this important personnel decision.

On Thursday, the chairman of the advisory board, Lower Saxony's Environment and Energy Minister Olaf Lies (SPD), confirmed that Müller, the current board member of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, will succeed Jochen Homann at the head of the regulatory authority in Bonn at the beginning of March.

“I am very surprised by this procedure”

According to the law, the body submits a proposal to the federal government. But so far the advisory board has not heard anything about the personnel prepared by Lies and Habeck. Habeck praised Müller as a "convinced supporter of the energy transition" who would push the expansion of renewables with a clear course. On Monday, the Advisory Board will meet for its last meeting in its current composition, as half of it is made up of members of the Bundestag from the previous legislative period. The other half comes from the Federal Council.

“I am very surprised by this procedure. Next Monday is the advisory board meeting and today personnel decisions will be made public," said advisory board member Andreas Lämmel (CDU) of the FAZ. “The chairman, Mr. Lies, has to ask himself whether this is an acceptable political style. With this procedure, the Advisory Board is demoted to a Abnickverein.” Müller is not to be officially chosen until a special meeting in February. The successor to Vice President Peter Franke, who will retire in mid-March, is still unclear. The SPD should claim his post – he is responsible for post and energy.

The 50-year-old Müller was born in Wuppertal, studied economics in Kiel and joined the Landes-Investitionsbank there.

Between 2000 and 2005, Müller was Minister of the Environment and Agriculture in Kiel, a predecessor of Habeck, who held the office between 2012 and 2018.

In 2006, Müller became a member of the board of directors of the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center and resigned from all political offices.

Since 2014 he has been leading the federal association in Berlin.

“Need pro-competitive regulation”

Different voices come from business. Superficially, the personnel is welcomed, but the power grid operators in particular are not happy. As a consumer advocate, Müller has repeatedly messed with the authorities and criticized their guidelines as being too business-friendly. A major point of contention is the new equity rates for electricity and gas networks, which the consumer association condemns as a “billion dollar gift” to companies. At the same time, hundreds of lawsuits against the cut are pending. It was said that Müller had to keep an eye on the urgently needed investments in the energy transition. "The interest on equity provided for the coming years will not be sufficient for this," said Peter Rosin from the Essen law firm Rosin-Büdenbender, which represents several plaintiffs. The head of the energy association BDEW, Kerstin Andreae,said it was important that Müller recognize the role of network operators as the backbone of the energy transition.

Müller takes over the network agency in a state of limbo.

The authority reports to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

According to EU law, however, it must be able to act independently of the federal government in energy regulation - which is not guaranteed according to a judgment by the European Court of Justice in September.

For the time being, the network agency is working on the old legal basis so that investors can continue at all.

The telecommunications industry is also curious to see how Müller will interpret his task.

Germany already has the "toughest consumer protection rules in the EU" in the telecommunications sector, said Jürgen Grützner, managing director of the VATM industry association.

One of his first challenges will be fiber optic expansion, for which the network agency is preparing new rules.

"For the decisive phase of fiber optic expansion, we need above all investment and competition-friendly regulation," said Stephan Albers, head of the Federal Association for Broadband Communication.

The competition from Deutsche Post, which is expectantly welcoming the chief regulator, is hoping for a tailwind.

According to the Federal Association of Letter Services, consumer protection and competition are two sides of the same coin.