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Energy crisis: Left criticizes insufficient protection against price increases

Energy crisis: Left criticizes insufficient protection against price increases

The price brake should not become an “invitation to collect money for the suppliers,” said parliamentary group leader Bartsch. He calls for price controls with “claws and teeth”. The Union expresses similar concerns.

The left has criticized the planned protection against excessive tariff increases in the gas and electricity price brake as insufficient and calls for stricter controls. “The federal government must approve every new tariff for 2023 for electricity and gas,” said parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch to the editorial network Germany. It should not be that the price brakes become an invitation to cash in for the suppliers and a bottomless pit for the taxpayers. Controls with “claws and teeth” are necessary, which correct the prices downwards, Bartsch demanded.

The Union also called for strict controls against abusive increases in electricity and gas prices. The deputy CDU chairman Andreas Jung told the “Tagesspiegel”: “It must not be that black sheep among the energy suppliers earn a golden nose at the expense of the general public.” Billions would be estimated for the gas and electricity price brake. They should help citizens and companies through the crisis, “but not improve the balance sheets of utilities”. Where price increases are not matched by correspondingly increased costs, this is abuse.

Federal government plans protection against excessive tariff increases

The federal government wants to put a stop to “abuse” of the price brakes through excessive tariff increases by utilities. To this end, price increases that cannot be justified by rising procurement costs are to be prevented until the end of 2023. Not every increase is automatically illegal, but increases that are “abusive and unjustified”, explained the Ministry of Economic Affairs with a view to corresponding draft laws.

The price brakes planned by the traffic light coalition are intended to cushion the sharp rise in costs for households and companies. For this purpose, a basic consumption of gas and electricity is to be subsidized by the state, but current, high market prices continue to apply. The brakes should take effect from March 2023, but retrospective relief is planned for January and February.

Source: Stern

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