Germany Lobbies EU to Help More Industries With Power Bills

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is working on expanding state support for companies struggling with higher electricity bills following Russia’s decision to curb gas supplies to Europe’s largest economy.

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“We have extended electricity price compensation until 2030 and we will lobby the European Commission to ensure that even more areas of the economy can be relieved,” Scholz told a business conference organized by the VCI chemical and pharmaceutical lobby group.

“This is particularly useful for an energy-intensive industry such as chemicals — because even if studies provide different results, it’s obvious that their electricity demand will increase,” the center-left leader said.

German industry has been particularly hard hit by the energy crisis that gripped the continent two years ago, with recent announcements from manufacturing behemoth Volkswagen AG about potential plant closures underscoring the extent of the economic pain.

Scholz also announced that his ruling coalition would work to ensure that businesses which cannot make their electricity consumption more flexible continue to have affordable grid fees. The government is pushing to extend a regulation which allowed certain energy consumers to request reduced or even exempted grid fees.

“We want to extend the relief effect as long as possible,” Scholz added. “With electricity price compensation and the reduction of the electricity tax to the European minimum, your companies can plan for the long term.”

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