According to a newly published Spiegel article here, it appears the German government is active in covering up the country’s embarrassing “energy poverty” statistics.
Few countries in the world have moved as boldly and aggressively to green up the energy supply system like Germany has. Currently the country has enough installed wind and solar capacity to power the entire country on a windy and sunny day.
However, that has all come at a excruciatingly painful high price, especially for the most economically vulnerable. Since the year 2000 German electricity prices have skyrocketed, becoming among the world’s highest, its power grid has become much more unstable, and conventional power plants still need to constantly remain on stand-by.
Moreover, the electricity production has become far less efficient and Germany has not been able to cut it’s CO2 emissions in 9 years.
Rich getting richer at the expense of everyone else
And while affluent property owners have made money hand-over-fist by leasing their land to wind park and solar plant operators, low income earners have seen their electric bills soar, and many have seen their power shut-off because they’ve been unable to afford their increasingly hefty electric bills.
Hundreds of thousands losing electricity
Over the recent years, social-justice-preaching Germany has seen hundreds of thousands of households lose power, and the Energiewende (transition the green energies) has turned into a humiliation.
Now apparently German officials are moving to keep this embarrassing fact covered up.
The Spiegel article bears the title: “Germany rejects measurements on energy poverty” and adds that “hundreds of thousands of German households are seeing their electricity and gas shut off.”
German government withholding embarrassing data
According to Spiegel, energy poverty is not only a German problem, but also one that is Europe-wide and as a result Brussels wants to take action to curb the trend. So EU bureaucrats now intend to obligate all member states to provide more data on “energy poverty”, but Spiegel reports the German government refuses to cooperate.
According to Spiegel, in Germany alone: “Year after year, more than 300,000 households see their power go off for a time and 60,000 see the gas get switched off.” And no power often means no Internet, heating, cooking or lights. Europe-wide, the figures are far higher.
Citing a “confidential diplomatic correspondence”, Spiegel reports that Germany is “against any wording which could be understood as obligation”.
German government officials refuse the EU request because they claim the term “energy poverty” first needs to be defined, and the German Ministry of Economics refused to comment when asked by Spiegel.
< sarcon >
What’s the use of reporting what is happening to the inappreciative proles*, they’ll only complain all the more. Why can’t these careless masses just switch the lights on and consume what the elites have provided for them and be happy with it.
Your rulers edict is “Let them eat ice-cream brioches, and enjoy the throb of windfarms and intermittent electricity!”
< /sarcon >
*prole:
“As in other definitions, used to describe a person deemed of a lower, more worthless social rank. Created by George Orwell in his book “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, to describe the lower insignificant classes of the fantastical British state.
“The proles are out on the streets causing trouble again.”” https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prole
Seems odd to me that the EU even appears to care about people suffering from policies they endorse. What’s next, collecting data on the extensive damage caused by the millions of migrants they mandate importing (allegedly to work, but who instead depleat social services)?
But, but I thought renewables were cheap?
Surely there must be some mistake?
Sarc.
My original comment seems to be lost …
@B&T: if the price of electricity is responsible for energy poverty, then it should be easy to compare Germany’s numbers with those from other countries, right? How many people get cut off from electricity or gas in the US because they didn’t pay the bills? How many in the UK? France?
This posting seems strange, since Germany is already documenting this to great detail. You can see for yourself if there is a trend or how the country compares to others despite high penetration of renewables.
No seb we don’t need no stinking relative measures, we’re just looking at Germany as this country has set itself up as the top dog in the foolish EU renewable league.
Germany’s poor are suffering, and that is the whole point. You care less for German poor and more about the relative energy poverty compared to other countries. Just heartless political posturing from seb again!
Germany should be looking after their impoverish citizen. What happens in US, UK, the rest of the world is immaterial, Germany should be looking after Germans.
@Bitter&twisted
Cheap you say, it was advertised as ‘free’ energy!
Tue wind is free. It’s the clean-up and rebuilding afterward that’ll cost you.
http://asergeev.com/pictures/k/hurricane_damage.htm
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLLUHwsVoAAh5-Y.jpg
https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/slider-image/PRsolarFarm_DisplayHome.jpg
gotta get that subsidy, yet again !!
Such an abundance of “investment opportunities!”
“Wind is free”
So is coal, gas and oil.
All you have to do is dig it up, or drill a well.
Uses up a lot less land than a wind or solar farm too.
Just goes to show that when a government wants to do something for you, the only people who will see any benefit will be the Bureaucrats running the system.
Yup.
“The ‘climate change’ movement isn’t about helping the environment. It is a global redistribution of wealth designed to bring greater human misery to first world countries while lining the pockets of the people in power.”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/05/european-union-proposes-ban-on-q-tips-straws/