BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The German government must offset billions in additional costs for the demand for renewable energies. This involves 8.7 billion euros, according to a letter from State Secretary of Finance Florian Toncar (FDP) to Helge Braun (CDU), Chairman of the Bundestag Budget Committee. The letter was made available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The "Bild" newspaper and the "Handelsblatt" had previously reported on this.

The Federal Ministry of Economics had applied for an additional expenditure of 8.769 billion euros. The funds will be used to promote renewable energies. An account has been set up for this purpose under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which is managed by the transmission system operators.

In the past, differences between expenditure and income were financed by electricity customers via the EEG surcharge. The EEG levy was abolished and the funds come from the federal budget. When the electricity price on the electricity market is low, the EEG financing costs are higher.

Toncar writes that the sharp decline in electricity prices and the associated high financing requirements were not foreseen at the time the 2024 budget was adopted. As things stand, the funds in the EEG account have already been almost completely used up.

CDU energy politician Andreas Jung commented: "A cost burden of this magnitude when taking over the EEG payments was foreseeable for a long time. However, instead of taking precautions, the traffic light government went easy on the figures and used the CO2 revenue actually earmarked for this elsewhere." The traffic light must now create complete transparency. Then there needs to be a real prioritization of climate protection and new cost efficiency in the energy transition.

The Federal Ministry of Finance had already kept open the possibility of a supplementary budget for this year. Because the economy in Germany is weaker than expected, the economic component in the debt brake allows for greater net borrowing. This could involve up to eleven billion euros. So far, net borrowing of 39 billion euros is planned for the current year within the framework of the debt brake./hoe/DP/mis