Evening edition · Friday, 23 October 2026
Podium vs Print: "a promise to keep" and €5.4 billion
Sixteen state premiers told Berlin to cut the electricity tax as fast as possible. The federal finance ministry puts the cost at about €5.4 billion a year. A promise is free to repeat; a tax cut has an invoice.
“Das haben wir versprochen und das ist zu halten.”
Gordon Schnieder (CDU), chair of the conference of state premiers, for all sixteen Länder, 22 October 2026, reported 23 October 2026
€5.4bn a year
Cutting the electricity tax for all consumers to the EU minimum would cost the state about €5.4 billion a year.
Federal Ministry of Finance estimate, as reported by StromAuskunft, October 2026
The podium. On Thursday the sixteen state premiers, Social Democrats included, called on the federal government “to take financial measures as quickly as possible so that a cut in the electricity tax is possible for everyone”. Their chair, Gordon Schnieder, added: “Das haben wir versprochen und das ist zu halten” — we promised that, and it must be kept1. (English quotes in this piece are the desk’s translations from German.)
The answer. On Friday the deputy government spokesman, Steffen Meyer, said the cut is in the coalition agreement and “there is the clear goal of implementing it fully in the end”. Then the clause: like every project, it stands “under a financing proviso”1. He named no date. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil had said on Thursday, after the tax estimate, that anyone proposing a cut “should at the same time bring proposals for how to finance it”1.
The print. The electricity tax for households is 2.05 cents per kilowatt hour; the EU minimum is 0.1 cent2. A cut to the minimum for all consumers would cost about €5.4 billion a year, by the finance ministry’s estimate2. So far the cut applies only to manufacturing companies and to agriculture and forestry2.
What it would mean at home. Including VAT, the cut would save about 2.32 cents per kilowatt hour, if suppliers pass it on in full2. That is roughly €58 a year for a two-person household using 2,500 kWh, €81 for three people at 3,500 kWh and €104 for a family of four at 4,500 kWh2. Desk arithmetic: at €5.4 billion a year, every year of delay costs the federal budget nothing and costs a family of four about €104.
The gap. The Länder demand and the federal answer both say yes to the goal. Only one side holds the ledger it would come out of. Chancellor Merz has pointed to higher revenue from stronger growth; the finance ministry does not think that is enough to cover the shortfall1.
Verdict. A demand without a funding line is a podium. A cost estimate without a decision is a print waiting for a vote. The day the cut becomes real is the day someone publishes where the €5.4 billion comes from. Until then, plan with the bill you have. Nothing here is advice.
What to watch
- The talks between Chancellor Merz, Finance Minister Klingbeil and other ministers that the government spokesman mentioned1.
- Whether any proposal names the money: a cut elsewhere, a higher revenue line, or new borrowing1.
- Whether a cut, if it comes, is passed on in full by suppliers; the household savings below assume it is2.
Every promise in politics has two halves. The second half is called financing.
Sources
- Bundesregierung sagt trotz Drängens der Länder keine schnelle Stromsteuersenkung zu — Reuters via onvista, 23 Oct 2026, 10:43.
- Stromsteuer-Senkung: So hoch wäre die Entlastung für Verbraucher — StromAuskunft, 13 Oct 2026.
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