Exploding energy prices
VDMA calls for electricity price cap
According to VDMA President Karl Haeusgen, medium-sized mechanical engineering companies are facing "incalculable risks outside their core business" as a result of exploding energy prices. He is calling for a temporary electricity price cap.
Companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector are also facing drastic price increases. According to the VDMA, high uncertainty and extreme price spikes on the spot and futures market are causing suppliers to act in an extremely risk-averse manner.
"The situation with new contracts in the energy sector is causing great concern. Numerous companies are having acute problems being offered or concluding new energy contracts for electricity and gas. Some medium-sized mechanical engineering companies are therefore exposed to incalculable risks outside their core business," says VDMA President Karl Haeusgen. Unlike in the private customer sector, there is no mandatory basic supply from an energy provider for companies. "In the current crisis situation, a temporary electricity price cap is needed," says the VDMA President.
In principle, price caps are alien to a market economy; high price peaks are an incentive to invest in power plants for peak loads. However, price caps are a temporary instrument when a market has been thrown into disarray by speculators and external shocks, which is currently the case, according to the VDMA. The industry association sees the need for a new European electricity market design as urgent and important - but thoroughness is more important than speed.
Electronics industry calls for tax reduction on electricity prices
At the end of August, the ZVEI called on politicians to temporarily reduce VAT on the price of electricity and to decouple it from the price of gas. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to reduce prices for consumers and industry by reforming the electricity market. The plan is to decouple the development of end customer prices for electricity from the price of gas.
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