German industry forecasts 9% increase in power costs

Germany’s largest electricity consumers – among them leading aluminium, chemicals, glass, paper, steel and cement makers – said they expected their power bills to increase by an average 9% for 2012 as the impact of the country’s nuclear phase-out is starting to be felt.

“Due to the loss of production from eight nuclear plants the supply of power will become tighter,” said the industry’s interest group VIK. “This will result in price hikes and on top of that, the network stability and quality of supply will decrease.”

Following Fukushima and the decision to shut down eight nuclear reactors at the end of June saw wholesale power prices jump by 10% in March-April and prices remain 4.2% above pre-Fukushima levels to date.