Berlin — Germany’s energy network agency published a proposal on Friday for “fair” distribution of network costs of expanding renewable energy among federal states, amid complaints by northern states over higher electricity prices despite cheaper wind power production.
Prices in the northern states have been comparatively high due to connection costs for wind turbines to the power grid that are passed on to the residents of the regions where the turbines are located.
The premiers of the northern states had said the difference in prices was hurting local support for constructing new wind turbines.
The agency published a key points paper suggesting reducing network fees in regions with high renewables output while introducing additional costs for all electricity consumers in Germany.
It said some 17 network operators would be entitled to pass on their additional costs to all electricity consumers and network fees would fall by up to 25% for some 10.5 million people connected to these operators, particularly in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt in the east and Schleswig-Holstein in the north.
The agency said it would discuss its proposal with politicians, the federal states, industry and civil society actors.
Reporting by Riham Alkousaa Editing by Frances Kerry – Reuters
