Federal Constitutional Court
Karlsruhe will decide on the electricity price brake in November
During the energy crisis, some electricity producers benefited from high prices. The federal government had some of the additional profits skimmed off. Wrongly? Germany’s highest court wants to decide soon.
In the dispute over the temporary skimming of so-called surplus revenue as part of the electricity price brake, the Federal Constitutional Court plans to announce its judgment on November 28th. This was announced by the highest German court in Karlsruhe. A total of 22 operators of green electricity systems turned to the Karlsruhe judges with constitutional complaints. (Ref. 1 BvR 460/23; 1 BvR 611/23).
The aim of the electricity price brake, which has now expired, was to relieve consumers of high electricity prices in view of the energy crisis. To counter-finance the price cap, some surplus revenue from electricity producers was skimmed off.
Excess revenue or windfall profits refer to profits that were significantly higher than the company’s expected profits at the time. The reason was the extremely high gas prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression. Because gas-fired power plants, as the most expensive power plants on the electricity market, often set the price for all other power plants, other types of generation also benefited from the high prices, while their costs remained roughly the same.
According to the plaintiff operators of wind power, photovoltaic and biomass systems, the skimming of excess revenue was unconstitutional. Overcoming the energy crisis is the state’s responsibility and should therefore be financed from tax revenues. At the oral hearing in September, the federal government emphasized that it had responded to an exceptional situation. By skimming, the operators should make their contribution to calming the electricity market.
dpa
Source: Stern
