Anti-Nuclear Plan Cutting Into Germany's Families

Anti-Nuclear Plan Cutting Into Germany's Families: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/10/17/anti-nuclear-plan-cutting-into-germanys-families/ "The cost of shutting down Germany’s nuclear program won’t fall on the back of heavy industry, like first feared. It will fall on the backs of citizens. Germany’s Renewable Energy Act (EEG) guarantees that renewables are taken onto the grid by the utilities in front of all other energy sources, and they have to buy it at rates way-above market value.
This was put in place to encourage alternative energy development and installation. However, renewables are so much more expensive than nuclear, hydro and fossil sources, that Germany instituted a levy, or Umlage, charged to consumers to cover this difference.
On Monday, the Germany’s four primary grid operators announced an increase in this levy from the 2012 rate of 4.5 cents per kWhr to a 2013 rate of 6.7 cents per kWhr (Reuters).
In addition to this 47% increase, consumers will be charged a value-added tax and higher fees for network usage by utilities. Retail electricity prices will rise by more than 10%, the largest increase in ten years. The typical family of four will pay about $324 per year just to fund this tariff."

Also see: Germany’s Campaign to Dump Nuclear Runs Aground: http://www.nucleartownhall.com/blog/william-tucker-germany%E2%80%99s-campaign-to-dump-nuclear-runs-aground/ "he first bills for Germany’s campaign to give up nuclear power have come due and they are not pretty.
This week the country’s four major grid operators announced a rate increase of 47 percent, from 4.5 cents per kWhr to 6.7 cents per kWhr next year in order to cover the costs of buying from renewable sources. In addition, consumers will begin paying a value-added tax and higher fees for network access by utilities. All this is going to cost the average family of four about $325 per year.
And that’s just the beginning. Renewables are barely halfway to the goal of getting 40 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020. (The current 25 percent figure is highly dubious since not much of the old stuff has been shut down and new coal plants are actually being added to keep the lights on.) Germany already pays the second highest electrical rates in Europe, almost twice what France pays with its 70 percent nuclear. (Just who’s #1 we’ll get to in a moment.) German industries are already complaining they won’t be able to compete anymore in the world market.
How many times do we have to go through this? It has become clear over and over that renewables are hopelessly expensive and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future and beyond. The only way they can survive is through ham-handed renewable mandates and extensive government subsidies. "