Most of us don't think about the price of electricity but it's an important part of our life that maybe we should.
I have talked to a few people about their opinions on the price of electricity here in Berlin. It was really interesting to hear their opinions since the cost of electricity is never really something I have had to think about before. Going into this interview I only had my thoughts on the matter so I just figured everyone would agree with me that the cost is high and should be lowered but I was proven wrong. I think my reasoning behind my opinion is partially because I come from the USA where if increasing taxes is mentioned everyone goes into a frenzy. So when seeing that around 55% of the cost of electricity comes from taxes and surcharges, my immediate thought was lower it! However, Something I forgot to consider was how affordability is relative. For reference, the average yearly income of Germany is about 44,436 Euros a year and the average cost of a three person household energy cost is about 3,348 annually. That means about 7.5% of one’s income is spent on energy. In my other two posts I explain the Feed-in Tariff Law and break down the price of electricity in Germany.
The first person I interviewed was Alexander, my professor for my one of my courses here in Berlin. Alexander is being used as my expert interviewee, I wanted to figure out the opinion of someone who is in the field of sustainability and their take on the Feed-in Tariff. My professor works for think tanks that advise on policy and implementation in Germany and other countries so he is aware of the Deutschland's initiatives. Since I know Alex had a better understanding of where the money goes from the taxes on electricity, I asked him if he found the price to be fair. I found his answer very interesting since he is able to take his reasoning beyond the immediate question. Alexander said he finds energy is “fairly priced” but believes it should be higher as well as there be a tax on greenhouse gas emissions. He explained his reasoning behind this and it makes sense. By increasing the price, people would be encouraged to lower their energy consumption as well as want to have more energy efficient products. If the price of electricity is too cheap then there is no incentive to save on the resource. By taxing greenhouse gas emissions, companies will be forced to reduce their footprint. This will also give the government another source of income to be used to help with the growth of renewables, as well as encourage companies to use renewables as their primary energy provider.
Another person I asked about their feelings about the price electricity was Eric, who works in the Student Life office. This interview is being used as my average Berlin citizen to help understand what someone who may not be totally aware of policy and the breakdown of their electricity bill. Eric wanted to make it clear to me that his knowledge has come from ads on TV and public transportation throughout Berlin. This was not an issue because I want to know what people’s opinions. When asking Eric what he thought of the price of energy, he said “I personally find the energy prices quite reasonable, particularly considering how easy it was for me to pick my energy source.” If you aren’t aware, it is only a matter of a few clicks to change energy providers as well as where the energy comes from, coal, renewables or nuclear, in Germany. Eric has decided to get his electricity from green energy even though it has an increased price of 1.5 cents per kWh. It is really interesting to see how Eric has decided to increase his bill to ensure the energy he is consuming is coming from a renewable source, even if it is a small increase.
My last interview was with John who works in the Academic Department. Again John was used as the average citizen to see his view on the subject at hand. He had the same thoughts as Eric about the price being reasonable and stable. John was able to share his context to why he doesn’t mind the cost, which is something that really helps show the relativity of what is affordable or reasonable. John came to work in Berlin from the US about 7 years when the price of energy was not much different from now so he said the current price is all he knows. It is hard to think a of the expense as unreasonable when that is the only exposure has been one price. John admitted he had no idea what energy cost anywhere else and I don’t blame him; I would find it hard to believe if most people knew something like that.
While I only got a small sample size to see gain an understanding of how Berliner’s feel about the price of energy, all three stated they think there is broad public support for the Energywende, Germany’s energy transition, and the price of electricity. When it comes to affordability the price may affect some more than others due to financial reasons but it seems like people do not have an issue with the price. I am curious to know other peoples take on this so let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below.
Resources:
"Development of gross earnings." Destatis Statistisches Bundesamt, https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/NationalEconomyEnvironment/EarningsLabourCosts/EarningsEarningsDifferences/Tables/LongTimeSeriesD.html
3 Interviews conducted in Berlin. November - December.
Snapshot of Graph from Vattenfall Electricity Bill with my Translation to English