German retail prices may remain unchanged

A new report in a conservative German economic magazine finds that the retail rate might not rise at all for a number of our providers even though one component, the renewable surcharge, is rising. It seems that lower wholesale prices might finally be passed on to consumers.

This just in: I told you so. But now, you don't have to take my word for it – Germany's manager magazine, a journal not exactly friendly to renewables, reported last night that German retail power consumers "might not see much of an increase at all" next year. Indeed, some customers might even see prices go down.

We already mentioned yesterday that EnBW, the fourth largest power provider in the country, does not plan to increase its retail prices at all for "most" of its customers. Last night, manager magazine added Lichblick (the largest green power provider, but still a relatively small fish), which expects prices to remain constant. Unfortunately, RWE and Vattenfall, two of the other three big utilities, did not wish to make any forecasts, and Eon (the other member of the Big Four) was apparently not contacted.

The article also cites Energy Brainpool (about whom I have also already written), which estimates that lower power procurement costs currently range from 0.57 to 1.97 cents – compared to an increase in the renewables surcharge of 0.96 cents. Interestingly, new photovoltaics only makes up 0.08 cents of that increase.

Other cost items, such as grid fees, could raise the retail rate, however, and too much offshore wind would also make things more expensive. But clearly, the time has come for Germans to put pressure on power firms to pass on lower wholesale prices, and citizens can exert this pressure by changing power providers. And for the press, it's time to stop talking about the renewable surcharge as something that necessarily needs to hire retail rates. (Craig Morris)