Every winter it seems, a story comes out of Europe concerning how high energy costs are affecting the old and the poor. The one that sticks in my mind is from several years ago, when an article described a German senior citizen who couldn’t afford to heat his apartment, so every evening he would turn on a single light bulb and warm his hands over it before going to bed.
Given that Germany is a highly developed first-world country, scenes like this seem impossible. However, electricity costs in Germany are the highest in the European Union (EU) at about $.34/kWh (in U.S. currency). Compare that to the U.S., where the average price people pay for electricity is about $.12/kWh. One reason for Germany’s high cost of electricity is its aggressive move toward using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Investing in these technologies is expensive, which is why each German kWh includes a 23 percent renewable energy surcharge.