Frankfurt – IG Metall is in favor of the state taking over the supra-regional power grids and driving forward the urgently needed expansion of the grids on its own. Otherwise, electricity costs threaten to rise immeasurably – with fatal consequences for private consumers, jobs in industry and the success of the energy transition.
“All of our industries report to us: network fees are increasingly becoming the central price driver for electricity supply. This applies to industry, but of course also to private households. We cannot afford this additional burden. Otherwise, industrial transformation and the energy transition will be canceled,” warns Jürgen Kerner, second chairman of IG Metall and responsible for industrial and energy policy on the union’s board.
The reason for IG Metall’s initiative is a study published today by the Hans Böckler Foundation, which calculates the cost development of network expansion based on three scenarios. Result: In the best scenario – in the case of public financing – the average network fees would only increase moderately by 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour. However, network fees must be increased almost twice as much, by 3 cents per kilowatt hour, if private investors provide the necessary capital. In the short term, it would be even more expensive for private households and commercial consumers if the companies that operate the transmission networks had to pay for the expansion from their current income. The average network fees would then increase by 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour. This would mean that the energy transition would fail, IG Metall concluded.
Network fees now account for around a quarter of electricity costs. They serve to cover the costs of operating, maintaining and expanding the power grids. As part of the energy transition, thousands of kilometers of new power lines must be built so that the wind power produced primarily in the north can reach the large consumption centers in the south. According to current studies, this will cost around 650 billion by 2045. If the networks are taken over by the state, there will be no risk premiums for financing as well as high return expectations, which are common among private investors. This would significantly curb the increase in costs,
Nationalization of the electricity grids has been discussed repeatedly in the past. Most recently, the planned takeover of the network operator Tennet failed due to the traffic light government’s budget problems. IG Metall is now calling on the next federal government to tackle the problem again. “You should let the market work where it can develop. It doesn’t work with the electricity grids; the state has to take ownership here and invest boldly. Otherwise the energy transition will fail,” said Jürgen Kerner.