With regard to a press release of the German Textile and Fashion Confederation (textil+mode) today, power operators have published the EEG contribution for 2017. The payment is going to rise to 6.88 Cent/kWh, almost twice as high as 2011. The amount was declared reasonable from the German government. At the same time, current investigations reveal that the costs of the energy revolution are continuously getting out of hand in other areas as well.

“In 2011, the German government declared that the former EEG contribution of 3.5 Cent/kWh equaled the reasonable limit. Now the contribution is twice as high. Therefore, we definitely need a system change in financing the energy revolution in order to meet the costs of the EEG”, said Ingeborg Neumann, President of the German Textile and Fashion Confederation.

The German Textile and Fashion Confederation in a league with other industries of the small and medium sized businesses demands that the energy revolution as issue of society as a whole shall be financed by the government in the future. All contributions due to the energy revolution could therefore be omitted. Costs would be divided more fairly if financed performance related by tax returns in the future. Hence production costs could be lowered and investment would become once more attractive. Moreover low-income earners would be disburdened.

The German textile and apparel industry (including the shoe and leather industry) comprises about 1,400 companies with approximately 130,000 employees equaling the second largest consumer goods industry in Germany. German textile and fashion enterprises generate an annual turnover of about 31 billion euros (textiles 60 %, apparel 40 %) and are in first place within Europe. Textile companies are important suppliers of the automotive, aeronautic, medical and geo-technological sector, etc. The German Textile and Fashion Confederation textil + mode acts in place of the sector’s interest with regard to economic, social, pay scale and education politics.