Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has now discussed starting financial aid for electricity consumers earlier than previously planned. “In any case, the relief in electricity prices must start in January at the latest. That’s what we’re aiming for,” said the Green politician.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has now discussed starting financial aid for electricity consumers earlier than previously planned. “In any case, the relief in electricity prices must start in January at the latest. That’s what we’re aiming for,” said the Green politician.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that the federal government is working “under high pressure to curb electricity and gas prices as quickly as possible”. He left open the possibility of the gas price brake being brought forward to January. “We don’t know at the moment whether that’s technically possible.”
In principle, the electricity and gas price brake should take effect as quickly as possible so that citizens and companies would be relieved. In addition, there must also be hardship measures. “We also have to look at the social institutions to dampen the price level there,” says Lindner.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz had announced that he wanted to explore a possible earlier start date of January 1st and discuss this with the energy suppliers. He said: “[This] will only succeed if there is a big alliance in Germany. And we’re organizing it right now – to discuss the questions of how it’s going to work.”
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said that the Social Democrats were examining ways to “give even more support” to companies and citizens in January and February. On Friday, the prime ministers of the federal states had already called for the gas price brake to be introduced as early as January.
A gas price commission had presented a proposal on behalf of the federal government that is intended to relieve households and companies. Accordingly, they get paid a monthly advance in December. After this one-off relief, a permanent gas price brake should come into effect from March 2023.
The Federal Ministry of Economics emphasizes that the planned price brakes for gas and electricity must be considered together. “This is systematically important because there are centralized network and supplier structures for electricity and gas, which makes it possible to address them broadly,” it said.
The federal government is currently working on implementation and is also examining the various accompanying measures proposed by the expert commission. The increase in gas prices is currently the highest cost burden for both consumers and the economy and is even higher than for electricity or other products such as oil, wood pellets or coal briquettes.