The DPA German press agency reported yesterday on the rapidly spreading energy poverty now engulfing the country.
The main driver is Germany’s skyrocketing electricity prices – primarily due to the legally mandatory feeding-in of wind and solar power. Currently regular household consumers are paying nearly 30 cents a kilowatt-hour – almost three times the rate paid in the USA.
Germany’s energy poverty. Over 330,000 German households saw their electric power service cut off in 2015. Photo cropped here.
Back to the 19th century
Many households are no longer able to afford electricity and are seeing themselves catapulted back to the 19th century. According to t-online.de here, “More than 330,000 households in Germany have seen their electricity cut off over the past year alone.”
The German site writes that those hit the hardest are households on welfare, i.e. society’s poorest and most vulnerable.
German politician Eva Bulling-Schröter of the Left Party has called it “a silent catastrophe“.
Not only have the poor been broadsided by the high electricity prices, but so have energy intensive industries. This all makes many average workers uneasy. Over the past years a number of German plants have been moving their operations to less expensive locations abroad, especially in the chemical industry. Traditional power companies have also been getting creamed, seeing billions of losses and thousands of layoffs.
6.2 million threats to cut off service were made!
T-online cites the German Bundesnetzagentur, adding that in 2015 also 44,000 households saw their natural gas turned off. T-online adds that millions more have been threatened with the loss of electric power: “Power cut-offs were threatened 6.2 million times. The average outstanding amount that electricity providers demanded from the impacted households was 119 euros.”
According to Bulling-Schröter: “Energy poverty in Germany is a silent catastrophe for millions of people, especially in the cold and dark winter months.”
T-online.de calls letting hundreds of thousands of “children, the elderly, and the sick” go without power while the country posts record electricity exports an “injustice” and that the German government “does not want to see the energy poverty” that is rampant throughout the country.
German plants have been moving their operations to less expensive locations abroad,
Example:
SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC
A BMW Group and SGL Group Joint Venture [SGL Carbon SE, is based in Wiesbaden]
Moses Lake, Washington, USA
http://www.sglacf.com/en/production/moses-lake-usa.html
Also, they’re totally in the tank.
https://www.comdirect.de/inf/aktien/detail/uebersicht.html?SEARCH_REDIRECT=true&REFERER=search.general&REDIRECT_TYPE=WHITELISTED&ID_NOTATION=164182&SEARCH_VALUE=SGL+CARBON
Guess they gotta get rid of the rest of their German operations.
[…] Full post […]
I’ve bored with this joke before, but news like this demands a re-run of it:
“Grandpa, what did people in olden days use for light before candles?”
“Electricity, my boy, electricity. sigh”
“Many households are no longer able to afford electricity and are seeing themselves catapulted back to the 19th century.” That’s exactly what the Greens and their hangers on want, except that they do afford to settle their power bills and drive their hydrocarbon powered vehicles. Hypocrites.
The citizens of the USA have voted out their version of these same people in the EU who are creating poverty. We need to do the same. We need our Trumps.
The EU is designed so you cannot throw them out. It’s them and the EU or separate trading nations. I know which I want. How about you Europeans? Time to dump these crooks.?
Awaiting the resident trolls to DENY than any of this happening.
Currently away from my PC, but you can simply Google “Bundesnetzagentur Monitoring Report” and get accurate numbers of actual power shutdown due to unpaid bills. It’s less then 300000 as claimed here …
Also heating is paid for when you live on wellfare
You really are some piece of work aren’t you Seb?
I hope both you and Sod suffer one of life’s random misfortunes that brings you to the pass that the less than 300000 are currently experiencing.
You make me sick.
right on cue.
The putrid sickness that is seb, returns
sob next !!
In other words, Who cares? Let ’em die. We need more wind and solar.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fuel-poverty-killed-15000-people-last-winter-10217215.html
“An estimated 15,000 people died unnecessarily between December and March because they were living in homes they couldn’t afford to heat, new figures show.”
If given the choice between allowing people to die due to fuel poverty and building another wind farm, people like SebastianH and sod would rather build another wind farm.
And they would rather make a grand who-haa over a veryminor drop in Arctic sea ice, while totally ignoring the flip side of the Jet stream weather event in Russia.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11382808/Winter-death-toll-to-exceed-40000.html
It really is low-morality anti-human behaviour from them.
“If given the choice between allowing people to die due to fuel poverty and building another wind farm, people like SebastianH and sod would rather build another wind farm.”
wow, a new low point in attacks.
people do not die because the price of electricity rises 50% (that is something that a price hike of coal, gas or oil could also do easily). They die, because they do not have enough money for anything (and plenty of other problems that nobody cares for).
These poor people also are the ones, who pay the price for pollution.
I am glad that you have found an interest for poor people. Let us fix their problems. I am looking forward to your proposals.
Sorry sod, but that qualifies as the dumbest statement of the week. People do die of fuel poverty, i.e. the cold and harsh conditions they end up getting exposed to. Fuel poverty is a very serious issue, and not one to ignore.
“wow, a new low point in attacks. ”
Your complete and utter DENIAL that the AGW scam has caused this problem, is BEYOND CONTEMPT !!
Your disdain for your fellow humans, is even worse than BEYOND CONTEMPT.
You are one evil, low-life S.O.B. !!!!
“Let us fix their problems. I am looking forward to your proposals.”
End communist price fixing for energy by the state, end subsidies, end cartel-protecting regulations. This will make prices come down in less than a year.
Very simple. Proven again and again throughout history. Most notably Erharts “Wirtschaftswunder”. He just scrapped ALL Nazi regulations.
The government and “we” cannot fix their problems. They must fix their problems. We can remove as many obstactles as practicable, but only the person can fix their proble. If “we” fix their problems, we enslave them. Not morally acceptable.
Seb,
Who pays for the heating?
The bloody fairies – you donkey.
SebastianH 3. March 2017 at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Reply
“Currently away from my PC, but you can simply Google “Bundesnetzagentur Monitoring Report” and get accurate numbers of actual power shutdown due to unpaid bills. It’s less then 300000 as claimed here …”
Hear hear! German warmunist!!! accuses oligarch system media of SPRINGER VERLAG – which runs t-online news – Friede SPRINGER being BFF of MERKEL HERSELF – of LYING!!!!
Sebastian, I am sorry you are away from your PC. I followed your link. To refresh your memory, the actual number for 2014 is 351,802 in the 2015 Monitoring Report – the newest data I found today. The numbers keep growing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKdcjJoXeEY
A “clean energy” company report? Not very independent.
[…] – Germany’s “Silent Catastrophe” …330,000 Households See Power Turned Off In One Year!: […]
This is a scandal ,caused by the and the massimmigration! More people consume more energy!
Caused by the politicians and their massimmigration policy !
Disconnection is only the tip of the iceberg (youngsters may need to Google them, since global warming made them extinct), in the UK electricity companies are forced by the govt to become extensions of social services, making special (costly) provisions for many more people that can (or say they can) only pay a small amount. The cost of all that goes on other people’s bills.
You are right.
Some years ago, the out going chairman, or chief financial officer of Scottish & Southern Energy was interviewed on Hardtalk. He said that 25% of your electricity bill covers the cost of the green initiative (such as subsidising home insulation, boiler replacements etc) and covering the costs of those in fuel poverty.
The number of people in fuel poverty is proportionate to the size of the electricity bill so as proices increase, a larger chunk has to be added to the bills of those who can afford to pay.
This person also said that 25% of the bill covers new infrastructure costs which is mainly coupling windfarms to the grid.
Only 50% of the bill is for the cost of energy, and of course even this part has significantly increased because of the floor price for carbon, high strike rate paid for wind and solar etc.
In other words, but for the push for renewables, the electricity bill would only be about 40% of its present total; some 60% of the bill is in some way the result of the governments push for green renewable energy.
It was a very interesting interview. I do not know whether it is on youtube. I remember posting on Bishopshill Climate Blog summarising the inter-veiw contemporaneously when it was aired with a link to BBC iplayer.
in Italy the cost of energy is from 20% to 30% and we will face the same problem shortly
[…] blog wrote here how in just one year over 330,000 German households had their power supply cut-off because […]
Pierre,
The majority of the residential rate payers (e-1 rate schedule) in Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) service territory, in California, are paying $.27 kWh for their marginal use of electrical power as of March 1. http://www.pge.com/nots/rates/tariffs/electric.shtml#RESELEC
Some of our commercial business, as well as residential customers, are having their power turned off for nonpayment of their utility bills. It is rather easy to use the embedded technology in Smart Meters to turn on and off service without having to have a certified electrician come out to the physical location to turn off/on the power. I was prepaying a bill at my local service providers office earlier this week when two residential customers came in to pay minimum payments to have their power turned back on.
The folks down in the San Diego area of the state have a different service provider (SDG&E) so their rates are different- https://www.sdge.com/sites/default/files/regulatory/03-01-17%20Schedule%20DR%20Total%20Rates%20Table2.pdf
It looks like the marginal costs is about $.40 kWh for folks in San Diego- assuming SDG&E’s rate design is similar to PG&E as far as baseline are set.
If you are in the LA area and get your power from SCE your marginal costs for power is now:
https://www.sce.com/wps/portal/home/residential/rates/
Schedule D (Tier 2)- $0.25 kWh.
Electric rates vary a lot in the US.
I have Rocky Mountain Power. These are the cost:
Basic charge $20
Energy charge block one .0042600 per unit (unit is a kwh) first 500 kwh
Energy charge block two .0142500
Energy demand rate 1 .0226600 first 500kwh
Energy demand rate 2 .0759100
Net Power Cost Demand 1 .0058300 first 500 kwh
Net Power Cost Demand 2 .0058300
Net Power Cost Energy 1 .0242600 first 500 kwh
Net Power Cost Energy 2 .0242600
Renewable Revenue Adj 1 -.0000600 first 500 kwh
Renewable Revenuse Adj 2 -.0001900
Customer Efficiency Services .0144000 per unit
Sales Tax .05
Total cost $109.95 for 956 kwh (last month) or about 11.5 cents per kilowatt (including basic fee and sales tax) via a very confusing method. You need a translator to figure out what you are actually paying for.
To allow people to die and watch with indifference when it is preventable is diagnosed as psychopathy.
“To allow people to die and watch with indifference when it is preventable is diagnosed as psychopathy.”
yeah. and the major source of death on this planet is death by lack of electricity and the only reason for that lack are renewables.
Sorry, but in the real world, renewables are saving people, not killing them. Because they offer electricity to places that can not have it from the grid.
please at least pretend to be looking at the full picture!
sod: “the major source of death on this planet is death by lack of electricity and the only reason for that lack are renewables.”
Reality:
http://www.scidev.net/global/energy/news/green-energy-developing-world-renewable-energy.html
Developing countries that already have a high share of renewable energy in their power mix are unlikely to grow this share further due to skyrocketing demand for cheap electricity, a report warns.
—
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9789400749870
[G]lobal warming cannot easily be avoided by reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in rich countries. Not only is emissions reduction extremely difficult in rich countries, but demands such as the UN mandate to improve the lives of the poorest global citizens cannot be satisfied without significantly increasing global energy use, and CO2 emissions. Therefore, the author asserts that climate engineering and adaptation are preferable to mitigation, particularly since the science is less than adequate for making firm statements about the Earth’s future climate.
—
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150610111133.htm
Cutting carbon emissions could have indirect effects on hunger
But there might be indirect ways in which cutting emissions could actually put more people at risk of going hungry. For example, some grasses and other vegetation used for biofuels require agricultural land that might otherwise be used for food production. So, increased biofuel consumption could negatively affect the food supply. Also, the high cost of low-emissions technologies such as carbon capture and storage will be borne by consumers, who will then have less money to spend on food. Tomoko Hasegawa and colleagues wanted to get a better idea of how these pieces fit together. The researchers used multiple models to determine the effects of strict emissions cuts and found that many more people would be at risk of hunger than if those cuts weren’t in place.
—
http://scroll.in/article/756228/how-climate-change-efforts-by-developed-countries-are-hurting-africas-rural-poor
How climate change efforts by developed countries are hurting Africa’s rural poor
Far from the expected development, forestry plantations and other carbon market initiatives in Uganda have severely compromised ecologies and livelihoods of the local people.
—
https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/legacy/issues/environment/files/Ex%2013_Declaration%20of%20Roger%20Bezdek.pdf
The study’s major finding is that the CO2 restrictions implied in the EPA regulations would have serious economic, employment, and energy market impacts at the national level and that the impacts on low-income groups, the elderly, Blacks, and Hispanics would be especially severe. The EPA regulations will impact low income groups, the elderly, and minorities disproportionately, both because they have lower incomes to begin with, but also because they have to spend proportionately more of their incomes on energy, and rising energy costs inflict great harm on these groups.
—
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/world/coal-rush-in-india-could-tip-balance-on-climate-change.html?_r=0
“India’s development imperatives cannot be sacrificed at the altar of potential climate changes many years in the future,” India’s power minister, Piyush Goyal, said at a recent conference in New Delhi in response to a question. “The West will have to recognize we have the needs of the poor.”
Mr. Goyal has promised to double India’s use of domestic coal from 565 million tons last year to more than a billion tons by 2019, and he is trying to sell coal-mining licenses as swiftly as possible after years of delay. The government has signaled that it may denationalize commercial coal mining to accelerate extraction.
As if one stupid comment was not enough.
sos: “Sorry, but in the real world, renewables are saving people, not killing them. Because they offer electricity to places that can not have it from the grid”
So Germany never had any electricity before the energie wende?
But you hit the nail right there, renewables should ONLY be used in places where the the grid can not extend too.
NOT in places where there already is a reliable, 24/7 power supply. And replacing such energy source by wind and solar is just stupid.
Unless you want to go back to the dark ages..
In the UK, some 25% of the electricity bill is to cover the costs of connecting windfarms to the grid.
Windfarms are situated in remote areas far away from the grid, and due to their inefficiency, they cover huge areas. Solar might have a role in a few remote places in and around the equatorial regions of the planet which have mainly cloudless skies, but not in Northern Europe.
And of course, they do not result in the meaningful reduction of CO2 since they require 100% backup mainly by fossil fuel generation. That is why Germany has seen so little reduction in CO2 these past 15 years, whereas the US which is using more and more shale gas, has seen significant reductions in its CO2.
Many of these places could have a grid if greens weren’t intent on keeping everyone but themselves in the stone age. It’s cruel to keep people in poverty just to keep the greens in riches.
poor little sob is still existing in his alternate, fairy-tale world.
You CANNOT run fridges, water supply systems, industry etc etc on INTERMITTENT power.
I bet sob would NEVER try to exist on JUST unreliables.
He is absolutely tied to the benefits of fossil fuels and the solid reliable electricity they provide..
His WHOLE EXISTENCE relies on those the consistency of fossil fuels for EVERYTHING that happens in his tiny little fantasy world.
Doesn’t it sob . !!
[…] https://notrickszone.com/2017/03/03/germanys-silent-catastrophe-330000-households-see-power-turned-of… […]
[…] https://notrickszone.com/2017/03/03/germanys-silent-catastrophe-330000-households-see-power-turned-of… […]
Extraordinary Claim
Do we have the extraordinary evidence?
Well government report and even SOD isn’t disputing the ball park fig.
Context : Germany has 37.5m households
So it’s about 0.8%
Double counts? Does it count some households 3 times eg say they reconnect 2 times in one year ?
– How long are people off grid ? Is it only weeks.
Maybe 1% of homes are rebuilt each year ?
That would cover it.
If it really is genuine families is it showing in health stats ?
[…] No Tricks Zone […]
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