The distribution of renewable energy policy cost amongst households in Germany – and the role of energy efficiency policies

摘要

We explore historical trends of household electricity pricesand consumption in Germany and show that, whilst priceshave risen, consumption has largely remained stable in the last16 years, indicating that the average household was not able tocompensate higher prices by reducing the amount of electricityconsumed. Data from the German Income and ExpenditureSurvey (EVS) is applied to the EEG surcharge to show its effecton different household types. We show that those groups withthe largest consumption of electricity often face the smallest relativeburden due to the EEG surcharge, as they can compensatewith their relatively large income. Groups with little discretionaryincome, such as low-income households, the unemployedand single parents face the highest relative burden, although theamounts they consume are not large in absolute terms.In light of our findings, we review the provisions relating toenergy expenditures in the German social security system. Wethen go on to examine the main energy efficiency policies thatare implemented and planned in Germany relating to buildingsand electricity consumption/appliances. Results indicatethat those policies do have the potential to reduce the burdenimposed by the EEG surcharge. Furthermore, the combinedeffect of the EEG surcharge and those policies turns out to benearly proportional. On the one hand, this shows that energyefficiency measures are not only relevant climate and energypolicy instruments, but can also serve distributional goals. Onthe other hand, we highlight that the result regarding their positivedistributional effects only holds if indeed these measuresare taken up also by low-income households. Therefore, it iscrucial to monitor the beneficiaries of energy efficiency measuresin the evaluation of these policies and if necessary designmore targeted approaches.