Calls on the German government to intervene in the face of rising energy prices

Energy prices are rising sharply in Germany – and across Europe – as the fuel crisis intensifies. It is a challenge for low and middle income households and families above all. The German Tenants Association is calling on the government to step in and help ease the financial pressure.

Associations call for financial assistance for households

“If the new government does not take countermeasures, there is a risk of exploding utility bills,” said Melanie Weber-Mortiz, federal director of the German Tenants Association, in an interview with the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung.

Together with the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), the Tenants Association drafted a position paper calling on the government to lower the price of electricity, either by enacting industrial exemptions or reducing taxes, in order to provide financial relief.

The associations are calling for the costs of energy efficient renovations to be more shared between tenants, landlords and the state. They are also calling for no household to be cut off from its electricity or gas supply before prices normalize – a measure the government used last year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. They are also asking for a reduction in the tenant’s share of the CO2 tax and an increase in the housing allowance.

CO2 tax drives up fuel prices in Germany

As of this year, Germany has added a tax of 25 euros per tonne of CO2 for products such as diesel, gasoline, heating oil and natural gas. The Federal Statistical Office indicates that this new levy – and the low prices of last year – are the reasons for the sudden rise in energy prices, which in September 2021 were 14.3% higher than those of the same month of the previous year.

During the same period, the cost of heating oil increased by 76.5%, fuels like gasoline and diesel by 28.4%, natural gas by 5.7% and electricity by 2 %.