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19.08.2010 09:41
© E.ON Kernkraft
Reuters publication says that Germany will postpone a decision on a proposed nuclear power tax to give the government more time to talk to utilities, who are furious about the proposal but also want to have the lifespan of nuclear plants extended. Officials cited by the news agency said on Wednesday the government would decide by the end of September, when it presents its energy strategy for the next two decades.
It proposes that nuclear power station operators such as the world's biggest utility E.ON pay a new tax per gramme of nuclear fuel that they use, according to a draft law from the finance ministry made public in July. “If another solution can be found, that's also fine,” Merkel said in the northeastern city of Rostock on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said he believed the decision would be delayed and a government spokesman said it was “reasonable for the decisions on lifespan and nuclear power taxation to be taken at the same time” because they were linked. The tax proposal has angered the four biggest utilities, who last week proposed an alternative payment method in return for being allowed to extend the lifespan of existing nuclear plants, Reuters reminds. The industry proposes paying tax-deductible charges into a fund from which the government could make fixed withdrawals.
On Tuesday, E.ON chief executive Johannes Teyssen was quoted as saying the new tax would be illegal. The utilities have said their profits would be hit by the tax, forcing them to cut investment and possibly shut down some nuclear plants. E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall Europe provide about 80% of Germany’s power.
German nuclear power plants have to be phased out by 2021 after an average 32 years of life, but the operators hope that Merkel’s government will reverse legislation imposed by a previous centre-left government under Gerhard Schroeder, Reuters announces. On a tour of energy plants in Rostock, Merkel said Germany needed to substantially increase its usage of wind power. “We need an accelerated approval process not just for expanding plants and financing them, we also need it for building new networks,” she said cited by the news agency.
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