Schwerin (dpa/mv) – Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) has welcomed the federal government’s energy price defense umbrella of up to 200 billion euros and the announced gas price brake. “The federal government’s rescue package is a big step forward,” Schwesig said on Thursday. MV has been demanding a gas price cap since March. The fact that an electricity and gas price brake is now to come is good news for the citizens and companies in the country.
“With the electricity price cap, the federal government is taking up our suggestion that basic consumption be capped by the state and the full market price only have to be paid for consumption in excess of this.” She would also consider such a model to be right for the gas price brake. The Federal Cabinet had not yet announced any details on Thursday.
According to Schwesig, details of the relief package still have to be discussed at the Prime Ministers’ Conference next Tuesday with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). “But all in all, this is a really good package that the federal government presented today.” She thinks it’s good that additional profits in the energy sector are to be skimmed off to finance the rescue package.
The socially oriented housing associations in the north also welcomed the announcements from Berlin. The defense shield would protect hundreds of thousands of tenants and housing companies from economic ruin, explained the director of the Association of North German housing companies, Andreas Breitner. He suggested capping 80 percent of the average annual consumption over the past ten years. “Anyone who consumes more energy should pay the current market price. This is how we encourage people to save energy.”
