The German economy ministry proposed a subsidised industrial electricity price of 6 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in a statement released on Friday.
The subsidy would be in place until 2030 and would cost between 25 billion euros ($27.56 billion) and 30 billion euros based on current market prices, the ministry said, adding that the cost would be covered by a fund initially set up to boost economic recovery after the COVID pandemic.
The ministry had planned to introduce a concept for industrial power pricing earlier this week as part of government efforts to support the transition away from fossil fuels.
However, both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner pushed back on the initiative, saying that prolonged subsidies were not beneficial for the economy.
Such a move would be "economically unwise", and it would contradict market principles to rely on direct state aid as a means to achieve industrial transformation, Lindner wrote in a guest article for business daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday.
Last year, Berlin introduced electricity and gas price caps to shield industry and households from rising energy prices, but companies in Germany say electricity prices are still too high compared with other countries.
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