Germany’s leading consumer protection group, the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverbands (VZBV), is urging the government to lower electricity tax for private households. Ramona Pop, a board member of the VZBV, expressed concern Thursday that a draft proposal from the Federal Ministry of Finance failed to include any reduction in electricity tax for consumers. The organization is calling for the government to reduce the tax to the European minimum level for all households.
Pop stated that even with planned reductions in grid fees, the government is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of relieving consumers by five cents per kilowatt-hour. Furthermore, she cautioned that a potential new levy on the construction of new gas-fired power plants could turn the promised relief into a financial burden for consumers. She emphasized that a focus solely on business interests is unsustainable in the long term and risks eroding public trust.
The Ministry of Finance’s draft currently proposes extending the electricity tax reduction for industry, agriculture and forestry on a permanent basis. However, private households are not included in the plan – a point the VZBV argues contradicts commitments made in the coalition agreement. The agreement stipulated a package of measures to relieve both businesses “and” consumers by at least five cents per kilowatt-hour, initially through a reduction in electricity tax to the European minimum and reductions in surcharges and grid fees.