Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Baden-Württemberg’s Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut has rejected the push by the northern German states to divide Germany into different price zones for electricity. “I think it’s completely irresponsible to want to drive a wedge between the northern and southern German states in these times,” Hoffmeister-Kraut told the German Press Agency on Monday. Anyone who thinks that part of the federal states can be decoupled from the electricity price zone endangers the cohesion and economic stability of the entire country.
Baden-Württemberg is also a pioneer when it comes to solar obligation and has long been pushing for greater expansion of the transmission grids. “In this respect, too, the debate that has now been initiated is completely misguided, especially since windy locations in northern Germany are benefiting from the energy transition anyway,” says Hoffmeister-Kraut.
According to a report by “Welt am Sonntag”, the northerners want to push through lower electricity prices for their citizens and companies with their initiative. “If I live or produce where the energy is produced or landed, this energy must also be cheaper there,” Lower Saxony’s Energy Minister Olaf Lies was quoted as saying. The North has been bearing the brunt of the energy transition for years. There is currently only one electricity price zone for the whole of Germany, although production and distribution costs vary from region to region.
