6. The benefits of the Renewable Energy Sources Act already far outweigh the costs
In 2006, the costs to the electricity consumer resulting from the differential costs of electricity covered by the Renewable Energy Sources Act amounted to €3.2 billion and €0.1 billion for the provision of energy balancing; this must be compared with monetary benefits as follows:
Through the merit-order effect alone (i.e. price reductions as a result of squeezing out more expensive electricity), wholesale prices for electricity fell by about €5 billion in 2006 due to the use of electricity covered by the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
The Renewable Energy Sources Act resulted in savings of €0.9 billion on fuel imports in 2006. The consumption of irrecoverable fossil fuels was also reduced by at least the same extent.
The consequential damage resulting from climate change and air pollution which was avoided in 2006 through the use of renewable energies for electricity generation in Germany would have cost around €3.4 billion.
The economic benefit of the Renewable Energy Sources Act therefore added up to approximately €9.3 billion in 2006.
There is some imprecision associated with each of these figures, making direct cost-benefit accounting impossible. Nonetheless, the comparison shows that the benefits of the Renewable Energy Sources Act already outweigh the costs.
[Renewable Energy Sources Act, Progress Report 2007, pursuant to Article 20 of the Act, Draft, prepared by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Summary, 5.7.2007, section 5.]