No matter how the government does it, someone always has something to complain about! If nothing happened now and there was no gas price cap, everyone would bash Habeck and co for not crashing our economy, but now that there is a gas price cap, everything is allegedly immature and not good enough from some people's point of view. But if they took so long to consider until the entire law was completely satisfactory, there would NEVER be a gas price cap. Same game again now: You have to prohibit these arbitrary price increases, because otherwise the corporations make huge profits, but when the government then does something about it, of course, that’s not right either, because it’s such an administrative burden that supposedly brings no savings anyway. I would like to ask those people how they would act in this situation? Not everything is perfect, but in this very difficult situation, the government cannot act quickly and well. In the short time, you simply cannot cover all eventualities but are trying, at least with the latest proposal, to partially limit unjustified price increases. What else can you do in 4 weeks? Certainly, not everything is perfect, but for such a difficult situation (in which probably no one wants to be Minister of Economy), the coalition is doing everything possible to brake energy costs. Nobody has a patent remedy for this crisis, and complaining is always very easy, whereas doing it yourself is much more difficult.
There are probably no perfect decisions, yes. But what “caps” cause can already be observed abroad and should actually still be well remembered by us - keyword fuel discount. Unfortunately, zero learning effect.
Who actually says that the price increases are arbitrary? We will have to wait and see to what extent the suppliers are able to justify the price increases.
The electricity price has recovered from its peaks at the exchange, yes, but it is still at a high level there. The price as of 01.01 is also the result of purchasing in summer, so it has nothing to do with current exchange prices reported in the media. They always pick the price that fits the report at the moment (sometimes the futures contract, sometimes the spot price). Speaking of spot price, just look at the current prices at Awattar, you’re currently paying over 50 cents/kWh there.
The relief only lasted briefly, because unfortunately (and I mean this seriously) we currently have exactly the state that renewable energy opponents like to cite, the “dark doldrums.” Our electricity mix currently consists of only 6% renewables (5% wind, 1% photovoltaics), so the prices are accordingly high. The problem is unfortunately real; no matter how much you try to “cap” it (which is only a debt-financed payment and postpones acute problems into the future).
I also believe that various relief measures miss the truly needy. It is part of reality that prosperity will shrink this year. Many can manage that and should not be relieved. Relief please only where it becomes existential. Forgoing a vacation in favor of the electricity bill is not existential. Unfortunately, we still only have “watering can” instruments available and no one has the guts to tell people to their face that we are not in a “wish list” but in a “that’s how it is” situation. The state cannot go from crisis to crisis and pour billions everywhere so that, at least seemingly, everything stays as it was.
What I find very positive, however, is that the current federal government recognizes these past failures and is actively working on them. For example, the new annual tax law laid the groundwork to distribute support payments more targetedly to the population through the tax authorities. Something ridiculously simple, but which unfortunately did not exist before.
