Electricity tax: cabinet decides changes – questions and answers

The Federal Government has launched relief for electricity prices. On the one hand, it is about reducing the network charges as part of the electricity price. Private households should also benefit from this. However, specialist associations warn that the relief does not arrive among all consumers.

With electricity tax, relief for companies in the manufacturing trade and agricultural and forestry is to be stabilized.

Economic and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) spoke of good news for electricity customers in Germany. “We relieve consumers, we relieve the relief.”

SPD parliamentary group manager Dirk Wiese is also satisfied: that star he said that the energy package decided today is making important impulses and strong incentives for growth and safe, especially jobs. “It is now crucial that investments are quickly implemented in important future fields such as electromobility and, above all, planning security for the coming years,” emphasized the Social Democrat.

The automotive and supply industry is central to added value and employment in Germany, Wiese continues. In its coalition agreement, the black and red coalition had agreed to promote e-mobility with purchasing incentives and to accelerate the expansion of the charging infrastructure in order to protect the German automotive industry.

A reduction in electricity tax for everyone is still not planned.

The network charges, through which the expensive expansion of the power grids are financed, have increased significantly. According to the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), you currently have a share of the total current price of around 28 percent.

The federal government is planning a grant of 6.5 billion euros for the operators of the transmission networks for the coming year. This should also be mitigated costs of the power customers connected to the downstream distribution networks, as stated in the draft law. The power grid is divided into the transmission network – i.e. large overland lines – for electricity transport over long distances and distribution networks for regional distribution. Private households are supplied with these distribution networks.

The federal grant is to be financed from the climate and transformation fund, a special pot of the federal government. In total, a discharge of 26 billion euros is planned for the next four years, as stated in a paper of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In 2027, however, another way could be taken. Then, according to paper, a “significant subsidy of the offshore network surcharge” is sought-but this must agree to the EU Commission.

The offshore network levy is another part of the electricity price. This levy is financed, among other things, costs from the network connection of wind farms on the high seas.

Stahl’s business association criticized, the urgently needed planning security for electricity -intensive companies is still missing. “We need a reliable and long -term reduction in network charges,” said general manager Kerstin Maria Rippel.

IG Metall demanded that an internationally competitive industrial current award had to be made quickly for the energy -intensive industry. Without this relief, thousands of jobs in the steel industry and other industries threatened to be lost forever.

The subsidy benefits all companies and private households that consume electricity, according to the paper of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

According to a “rollover bill”, the Reduce network charges for household customers by up to 2.4 cents per kilowatt houron average around 2 cents. According to the federal government, a family is relieved of up to 100 euros a year at electricity costs.

But: The actual relief effect in the individual network area can be higher or lower, it said. The fees for the transmission networks are passed on to the next network level. The suppliers then pass this on to their customers, including private households. The regional network charges vary from region to region.

According to the ENBW supplier, the reasons are different cost structures and different age of the infrastructure- older network infrastructures have higher maintenance and repair costs, which affects the network charges. On the other hand, the expansion of renewable energies has an impact on the network charges, which is due to costs for integration into the networks.

Kerstin Andreae, chair of the BDEW main management, said that the grant to the transmission network charges does not arrive evenly with all electricity customers.

In order for relief to be received by customers as of January 2026, the necessary statutory decisions would have to be taken by October 10th. Only then could the network operators take the grant into account in good time for the determination and publication of the network charges, which then flow into the end customer prices of the energy suppliers accordingly.

In a study by the Consentec consulting firm on behalf of the VKU and ZVEI business associations, it says that in some areas of distribution network operators there would be practically no relief. In addition, the energy suppliers are not obliged to pass on the grant to the transmission network charges. Reiche had asked the industry to arrive at the customer’s relief.

The electricity tax relief except for the EU minute tax rate is to be stabilized for potentially over 600,000 companies in the manufacturing trade and agricultural and forestry. According to paper from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, producing craft businesses such as bakeries and pastry shops or metal builders and precision mechanics are also recorded.

However, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that only a maximum of 15 percent of the companies in Germany benefit from the reduction in electricity tax. Business associations have long been complaining about high electricity prices in international comparison.

The decision on electricity tax also causes criticism. Marie-Christine Ostermann, President of the family entrepreneur, accused the coalition of word fracture. “An insolvency wave is already rolling through the middle class.” Crafts President Jörg Dittrich spoke of a “massive breach of trust”.