Germany’s SPD plans new package to ease energy price impact -paper

The Victory Column shows a reduced lighting to save energy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Berlin, Germany August 6, 2022. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

BERLIN, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Germany’s ruling Social Democrats (SPD) will propose further measures to help its citizens cope with rising energy prices, including another discounted national transport ticket, a document seen by Reuters showed on Sunday.

Households are facing higher energy costs after the German gas market operator set a levy from October to help utilities cover the cost of replacing Russian supplies.

With energy prices rising following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government has already introduced two relief packages this year, including a 9 euro ($8.96) transport ticket allowing travel anywhere in Germany that expires on Aug. 31.

A third relief package would include a similar ticket but with a less heavily discounted price tag of 49 euros per month, according to a draft proposal, which the Sueddeutsche Zeiting was first to report on.

The proposal also envisages direct payments for middle and low-income households, measures to protect tenants from evictions if they cannot pay their ancillary bills and reforms to housing allowance to include heating costs.

It also considers setting incentives for citizens to save gas, pushes renewable energies expansion and seeks to protect from insolvency municipal utilities that are pushed to pay higher prices for gas.

The SPD also wants to discuss introducing an electricity and gas price cap, with conditions still to be determined.

The party will also propose a readjustment of the gas levy that will come into force in October, so energy companies making profits cannot also benefit from it, the document showed.

($1 = 1.0039 euros)

Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Catherine Evans and Edmund Blair

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