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2022-06-13 14:40:00

GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING

GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING

BLOOMBERG - June 13, 2022 - Germany plans to give competition authorities enhanced powers to crack down on fuel companies after emergency tax cuts failed to trigger the intended price reductions for consumers.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused oil producers of failing to pass on the benefits of lower levies to consumers and reaping a profit from the surge in energy prices.

“My proposal is that we change our antitrust law and create one with teeth and claws” that promotes genuine competition, Habeck said Monday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

Antitrust law need to be reformed to make it easier to gather evidence of collusion between market participants, he said, adding that in such situations profits could be seized from suppliers.

“It’s not like you have people wearing sunglasses sitting in back rooms and coming to a deal,” he said. “Of course it doesn’t work like that.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party alliance agreed at the end of March to cut the levy on fuel for three months from June 1 by 30 euro cents per liter for gasoline and 14 cents for diesel, costing the government about 3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in lost revenue.

The government’s plans to tighten competition rules were first reported on Sunday by Der Spiegel magazine.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office already said in April it was launching a probe of the oil sector with “a clear focus on the refinery and wholesale level” to determine the reasons behind price developments.

Andreas Mundt, the office’s president, said last week officials are monitoring prices “very closely” and threatened stiff fines if evidence of collusion between suppliers is uncovered. A recent widening of the gap between the price of crude oil and fuel costs “at the very least raises questions,” Mundt said in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner said late Sunday he will try to make sure that consumers benefit in full from the temporary reduction in fuel tax and backed Habeck’s move to sharpen cartel law.

“What we cannot allow to happen is that suppliers in Germany reap the profits,” Lindner, who leads the pro-business Free Democrats, told ARD. “This is a task for the cartel office and it’s good that Robert Habeck has taken this on.”

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Earlier:

GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, June, 3, 13:10:00
RUSSIAN SANCTIONS RISES PRICES
"The EU's decisions to partially phase out Russian oil and oil products, as well as to ban the insurance of Russian merchant ships, are highly likely to provoke further price increases, destabilize energy markets, and disrupt supply chains," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, June, 1, 10:50:00
EUROPEAN BAN ON RUSSIAN OIL
First proposed on May 4, the EU's sixth sanctions package against Russia was designed to ban its crude imports into the bloc within six months and halt flows of its oil products by the year-end to help hit Moscow's oil revenues.
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, June, 1, 10:30:00
EUROPE ISN'T WITHOUT COAL
The war in Ukraine has triggered a scramble among some countries to buy more non-Russian fossil fuels and burn coal to cut their reliance on Russian supplies.
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, May, 31, 13:05:00
EUROPE BANS RUSSIAN OIL
"The sanctions will immediately impact 75% of Russian oil imports. And by the end of the year, 90% of the Russian oil imported in Europe will be banned," Michel said in a tweet after a summit meeting.
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, May, 30, 11:35:00
EUROPEAN ENERGY DEADLOCK
The European Union proposed banning seaborne oil from Russia while delaying restrictions on imports from a key pipeline
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, May, 25, 11:15:00
EUROPEAN GAS AMBITIONS
As a result, short-term gas prices in Britain, France and Spain have tumbled to as little as a third of those in markets including the Netherlands and Germany,
GERMANY'S ENERGY SAVING
2022, May, 25, 10:55:00
EUROPEAN GAS OBLIGATIONS
EU Member States consumed approximatively 400 bcm of gas in 2020 (25% of the EU's primary energy consumption), and they possess a combined gas storage capacity of about 105 bcm (as of 2020).
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Tags: GERMANY, ENERGY, EUROPE, GAS, OIL, RUSSIA, SANCTIONS