FRANKFURT – Germany’s power surcharge for consumers who support renewable energy will be reduced by 42.7%, network operators reported on Friday. This is to aid households in coping with the rising prices of energy.

Germany and Europe’s other countries are trying to help consumers in the face of skyrocketing gas prices.

A Reuters report confirmed Thursday’s German levy reduction to 3.723 eurocents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This will be in effect only until January 1.

Funding for the cuts will be provided by 3.25 billion Euros ($3.77 Billion) from carbon taxes.

This fee is charged under the renewable energy act and pays to solar power producers. It was 3.9% lower last year.

One-fifth of consumers’ energy bills includes the EEG fee.

TSOs, transmission system operators, calculate the fees by monitoring the income from EEG levy and the amount of the account where they are deposited. They also factor in wholesale prices as well as anticipated feed-ins of renewable energy onto the grids.

According to them, renewable energy production will rise 11 terawatthours (TWh), to 239 TWh in 2022. This is worth 22.8 billion Euros at market prices.

TSOs include Amprion and TransnetBW, Amprion, TransnetBW, Tennet, and TransnetBW.

Verivox, a price comparison portal, said that a household using 4,000kWh annually would cut its annual cost by 132 Euros.

This is merely arithmetic because suppliers may not pass the savings on completely.

The report stated, “Because high wholesale market prices as well rising network tariffs will result in significant relief for households,”

Kerstin Andreae of BDEW Germany’s utility industry association said that the new German government must immediately abolish the EEG fees. She stated that this would permanently relieve power customers, not only medium-sized businesses.

($1 = 0.8619 euros)