Both Australia and Germany have just held national elections, where conservatives have won in both cases. During those elections electricity prices surfaced as a hot topic, where the public opinion clearly favoured lowering the electricity price. And so the topic was debated extensively. In the case of Australia the price is $ 0,29/kWh, a relatively low price. Whereas the price in Germany is $ 0,35/kWh, a relatively high price. However the highest electricity prices are in Denmark: $ 0,41/kWh! And still the topic has not surfaced in Denmark at all, one wonders why?
If we zoom in on the Danish case study we find that Denmark has the world’s highest electricity prices, except from a few mini-island countries that depend on importing fossil fuels for power. Zoom again and we find the reason: Taxes!
In Denmark the tax on electricity makes up 37% of the total price and VAT makes up 20% of the total price, in other words: 57% of the price paid is due to government intervention in the market. With an astounding 57% of the price coming from government rather than market, one might assume that the Danes like the Australians and the Germans would be battling for price reductions. But no. The topic has yet to surface in Denmark. Ripped off and putting up with it…
Sasha Renate Bermann, PR & Marketing manager at VaasaETT – Global Energy Think Tank, blogger on Vox Liberalis and Libertarian activist.
Filed under: Enviroment
