German Renewable Surcharge to Rise 47%, Wind-Power Body Says

German grid operators will probably increase the surcharge consumers pay for renewable energy next year by 47 percent, according to the nation’s wind-power lobby.

The rate is expected to be set at 5.27 euro cents (7 U.S. cents) a kilowatt-hour, Herman Albers, the BWE president, said today in Berlin, citing calculations by the wind energy group. It’s currently set at 3.59 euro cents a kilowatt-hour.

More than half of the fee, which is added to electricity bills, comes from exemptions for German industry, low power- market prices and costs held over from this year, Albers said.

“The government should cancel the exemptions for industry” because the feed-in-tariff payments for renewables make up only 2.26 euro cents of the new surcharge, he said.

Germany is debating how to overhaul a clean-energy subsidy system that helped raise the share of renewables to 25 percent of total generation, while increasing costs. The grid operators are due to release a statement on the surcharge on Oct. 15.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net