Germany’s top court rejects renewable vigor producers’ case against use of windfall profits

BERLIN — Germany’s highest court on Thursday rejected complaints by renewable vigor producers against a government selection in 2022 to use their “excess profits” to assist finance a cap on electricity prices.

A submission to the Federal Constitutional Court by 22 generators of wind, solar and biomass vigor argued that dealing with the vigor crisis that followed Russia’s packed-scale invasion of Ukraine was the responsibility of the state and should therefore have been financed from taxes. They also said their facilities hadn’t contributed to high electricity prices.

But the court found that the assess was, in the exceptional circumstance that the vigor crisis created, constitutional.

“Excess profits” that many electricity generators ran up as a outcome of high vigor costs were used between December 2022 and June 2023 to assist finance an “electricity worth brake,” capping the expense of part of the power households and businesses used.

The assess was part of a relief package drawn up in response to sky-high gas prices that, because of the way the electricity trade is structured, pushed up overall vigor costs. That led to unusually high profits for some operators of facilities with low fossil fuel costs, including those powered by renewable sources.