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Electricity for the industry is cheaper, they are freed from some taxes (not sure which one) and obviously VAT is deductible which is not the case for end consu

Electricity for the industry is cheaper, they are freed from some taxes (not sure which one) and obviously VAT is deductible which is not the case for end consumers. Regardless of that it's a myth anyway. Germany has a very competitive electricity market, and it basically works by having all the costs on the actual electricity bill (will not be 100% true in the coming years, but it was until now). Some other countries have cheaper electricity on paper, but cover the real costs with government money / taxes. France is the most obvious example as a neighbouring country.

lyu07282 3y ago
Why do you think it's a myth? It is true. Germany has one of the highest electricity prices in the world. It's well known because it's true.
- pgeorgi 3y ago
  Residential electricity has the full rates on everything. Commercial electricity is a bit cheaper because taxes and network fees are reduced, and industrial electricity is even cheaper because the reductions are even higher. In case of the network fees, residential customers directly subsidize industrial customers: network fees cover the network operation costs, so it's a zero-sum game where one party's reduction is another party's increase. It's still somewhat expensive to operate electricity heavy industry in Germany, but much less outrageous than the residential prices that are usually used in for comparisons in the news.
- locallost 3y ago
  Read what I wrote. The price of electricity is what gets paid. If you pay 5c per kWh and say I have the cheapest electricity in the world, but your electric company has to get bailed out by government intervention your electricity is not actually 5c per kWh. I just checked and you can get a new contract in Germany for 25-30c per kWh. If you compare it to France, the price there is 24c per kWh, but at the same time the government fought tooth and nail last year to be able to fund repairs of the nuclear plants. They want to spend 20-25 billion per year of taxpayer money in the coming years. So do the math on what it actually costs. If you run a real company for profit you fund the future repairs through the price of the things you sell. There is no such thing in Germany, or at least there wasn't until recently. There is a renewables surcharge but it was always on the electricity bill. Last year it was removed because of high electricity costs so it wasn't needed, and the current plan now is to finance it through taxes once the fund gets depleted. Personally I hope it gets put back on the bill because I like to know how much things truly cost.

lyu07282 3y ago

Why do you think it's a myth? It is true. Germany has one of the highest electricity prices in the world. It's well known because it's true.

pgeorgi 3y ago
Residential electricity has the full rates on everything. Commercial electricity is a bit cheaper because taxes and network fees are reduced, and industrial electricity is even cheaper because the reductions are even higher. In case of the network fees, residential customers directly subsidize industrial customers: network fees cover the network operation costs, so it's a zero-sum game where one party's reduction is another party's increase. It's still somewhat expensive to operate electricity heavy industry in Germany, but much less outrageous than the residential prices that are usually used in for comparisons in the news.
locallost 3y ago
Read what I wrote. The price of electricity is what gets paid. If you pay 5c per kWh and say I have the cheapest electricity in the world, but your electric company has to get bailed out by government intervention your electricity is not actually 5c per kWh. I just checked and you can get a new contract in Germany for 25-30c per kWh. If you compare it to France, the price there is 24c per kWh, but at the same time the government fought tooth and nail last year to be able to fund repairs of the nuclear plants. They want to spend 20-25 billion per year of taxpayer money in the coming years. So do the math on what it actually costs. If you run a real company for profit you fund the future repairs through the price of the things you sell. There is no such thing in Germany, or at least there wasn't until recently. There is a renewables surcharge but it was always on the electricity bill. Last year it was removed because of high electricity costs so it wasn't needed, and the current plan now is to finance it through taxes once the fund gets depleted. Personally I hope it gets put back on the bill because I like to know how much things truly cost.