Work package 2: Distributional effects of RE expansion

The impacts of market support policies in the power sector are determined by establishing the microeconomic burdens and relief of various groups of actors such as households, industry/the tertiary sector (trade, commerce, services TCS) and government which occur due to market policies supporting electricity from RE. The analysis extends to the distributional effects of the feed-in remuneration (EEG) in the fields of photovoltaics, biomass and wind (on shore) and shows the resulting burdens and relief depending on the size of the installation and region.

With regard to the allocation of the RE surcharge, the focus for households is on the differentiated analysis of the burdens according to socio-economic criteria such as income and household type. The electricity costs for individual household types are available from the German Federal Statistical Office. A change of these costs and their possible regressive effect can be calculated from simulations with an upper and lower trajectory of the medium-term development of the RE-surcharge. The transmission system operators publish these trajectories as part of their medium-term forecast. Initial calculations have shown the regressive effect of an increase in the surcharge. Lower-income households are disproportionally affected by a rise in electricity prices.

For industry, the effects of the special equalisation scheme (BesAR) are taken into account and the burden distribution by sector or company size is regarded as is the spatial distribution by region.

• Lehr, Ulrike and Drosdowski, Thomas (2015): Social distributional effects of the RE surcharge (in German)
  

• Horst, Juri (2015): Verteilungswirkung der Besonderen Ausgleichsregelung
  

• Breitschopf, Barbara; Bürer, Simon and Lürich, Lucas (2014): Distributional effects of the promotion of photovoltaic expansion and wind onshore (in German)