Germany’s EEG surcharge, a levy on power prices to support the expansion of renewables, has been lowered for 2019.
The rate for next year has been set at 6.405 eurocents per kilowatt hour, down by 5.7% from this year’s 6.792ct/kWh.
Transmission operators said higher wholesale power prices reduced the support owed to green power producers as the surcharge bridges the gap between market rates and the guaranteed feed-in tariff.
The TSOs added that a surplus of Germany’s “green energy account” was also used to lower the overall levy for consumers.
According to the operators, the levy for 2019 will be set at 2.5ct/kWh for photovoltaics, 1.7ct/kWh for biomass, 1.6ct/kWh for onshore wind and 1.1ct/kWh for offshore wind.
In addition, amended offshore grid expansion levy will amount to 0.416ct/kWh in 2019, the TSOs said.