German Green Party softens stance on utilities footing nuclear bill

• 8 years ago (2016-02-29)
• David Flin

Europe 1061 Nuclear 640

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The German opposition Green Party has softened its stance towards utilities, agreeing that utility companies should not have to bear alone the costs of the country’s exit from nuclear power. A government appointed committee chaired by the Green Party’s Jürgen Trittin, a former Environment Minister, is trying to decide how to apportion the costs of decommissioning the plants and the storage of nuclear waste.

The utilities are already struggling with a steep fall in wholesale power prices, and it has been suggested that it would be wrong to burden them with excessive costs, for fear that they might be driven out of business.

Germany’s last nuclear plant will be shut down in 2022, and it is feared that the €39 billion set aside by the big four utilities – E.ON, RWE, EnBW, and Vattenfall – will be insufficient. According to a draft report, Germany is willing to shield the utilities from the risk of rising costs linked to the nuclear exit.

Germany also needs a plan for how to exit coal-fired power generation, which still accounts for around 40 per cent of electricity generated in Germany. Michael Vassiliadis, Head of the mining, chemicals and energy trade union IG BCE, proposed that funds to pay for Germany’s eventual retreat from coal-fired power generation could be built up by allowing coal plants to continue operating for 15 years after the nuclear exit, which he said should be profitable. He said: “This money should stay in the system and not be paid out as dividends.”