Germany to cap energy prices beginning 2023
Germany said Wednesday it planned to put a limit on energy prices from the beginning of 2023, the cornerstone of a massive 200bn-euro (Us$198bn) package to ease inflationary pressure on households and businesses.
The major energy market intervention would see the price
for a percentage of consumers' typical gas usage capped from
January 1 for industry and March 1 at the latest for households, according to the position paper from the government.
Policymakers would "seek" to retroactively apply the price break for households from February 2023, the document said.
A similar electricity price cap will apply from January, under the plans.
The government will also make a one-time payment to cover heating costs for households and small and mid-sized
businesses in December this year.
The price cap is set to apply through to the end of April 2024.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with state premiers later Wednesday to finalise the details of the agreement.
Ahead of the meeting regional leaders pressed the federal government to apply the gas cap for households sooner.
"People need reliable protection from the higher costs, especially in the cold months of January and February, when they use heating intensively," Hendrik Wuest, the regional leader of North Rhine-westphalia, told Der Spiegel magazine.