Germany: Renewables Group Rejects Energy Windfall Tax

The Germen Renewable Energy Association (BEE) has warned against a planned windfall tax on the energy generators. Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany announced the government will now use income from the windfall taxes levied on the producers and electricity, to fund a package of 65 billion euros to help companies and households manage the increasing energy prices.

According to reports, Olaf Scholz said that the electricity producer were making excessive profits to decrease the consumer prices for coal, gas, and oil. He added that some of the energy companies, which might not be using gas to produce electricity were using the fact that the high price of gas determined the price of electricity, and is therefore making a lot of money.

The BEE said that interventions in the electricity market, or in the financing mechanisms for the renewable energy, will also stimulate undesirable developments, and can lead to the considerable hikes.

The BEE also pointed out that the energy crisis is caused and driven by the shortage of the natural gas and is also exacerbated by the depressed, damage-prone, and outdated nuclear power plant part of France.

Simone Peter, president of BEE, said it is a fossil fuel supply crisis, which must be tackled at its roots, including expensive fossil fuels and nuclear energy sources, and a renewable energy system must be expanded more quickly.