EU energy summit: ZVO presents four demands to the Federal Minister of Economics

According to the German Surface Technology Association, the German electroplating and surface technology industry is on the brink of collapse. The energy cost situation for energy-intensive electroplating and coating companies can no longer be surpassed in terms of drama; the livelihoods of companies and therefore also jobs are at stake. The ZVO has therefore formulated concrete expectations and demands in a further letter to Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, after the association had already drawn attention to the issue in August of this year. Depending on the size of the company, annual additional costs of one million euros and more will not be uncommon in the coming years. While ZVO member companies were still able to procure a kilowatt hour at an average of 4 ct in 2021, this figure rose to 45 ct/kWh in August 2022 and will explode to around 60 ct/kWh and more in 2023. Such electricity prices are no longer sustainable and threaten the existence of medium-sized companies in the electroplating and surface technology sector, as they are for all SMEs in Germany, the backbone of the German economy.

However, it is not only the energy price level that is causing concern; the reduced gas supply is also beginning to have a negative impact on supply chains, which the German economy has been able to maintain with great effort, but successfully, since the start of the pandemic. However, they are currently breaking down and a domino effect is expected within a very short time. For this reason, the ZVO - on behalf of the companies in the electroplating and surface technology sector - is urging swift, immediate decisions and measures. On the one hand, the association expects the merit order system to be suspended immediately, at least temporarily: it is unacceptable that the most expensive gas-fired power plant connected to generate electricity should cause the price of electricity to explode, even though the costs of generating electricity from coal, uranium, solar and wind have not risen at all. As a first step, the expensive gas-fired power plants could be eliminated from the merit order system. The ZVO is also calling for the temporary continued operation of the last three nuclear power plants due to be shut down. The reserve operation of two nuclear power plants is pointless, the costs of the lifetime extension would remain without generating any revenue. The two other demands are a price cap for electricity, gas and oil and the introduction of a uniform industrial electricity price across Europe.