BERLIN, May 5 (Reuters) - The German economy ministry
proposed a subsidised industrial electricity price of 6 cents
per kilowatt hour (kWh) in a statement released on Friday.
The subsidy would be in place until 2030 and would cost
between 25 billion euros ($27.56 billion) and 30 billion euros
based on current market prices, the ministry said, adding that
the cost would be covered by a fund initially set up to boost
economic recovery after the COVID pandemic.
The ministry had planned to introduce a concept for
industrial power pricing earlier this week as part of government
efforts to support the transition away from fossil fuels.
However, both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister
Christian Lindner pushed back on the initiative, saying that
prolonged subsidies were not beneficial for the economy.
Such a move would be "economically unwise", and it would
contradict market principles to rely on direct state aid as a
means to achieve industrial transformation, Lindner wrote in a
guest article for business daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday.
Last year, Berlin introduced electricity and gas price caps
to shield industry and households from rising energy prices, but
companies in Germany say electricity prices are still too high
compared with other countries.
($1 = 0.9071 euros)
(Reporting by Markus Wacket and Friederike Heine, Editing by
Rachel More)
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