The German government was quick to approve a phase-out of nuclear power in the country after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Now the costs of moving toward renewable energy are just being realized, and low-income consumers are paying the price.
After two weeks, the first letter arrives. The second notice comes a week later. On the fourth week, the bell rings and a technician from the power company, Vattenfall, is at the door. He has a black toolbox under his arm and he means business.
Aminta Seck, 39, has been through this twice before. If she doesn’t pay the technician at least part of what she owes the company, he’ll disconnect her electricity, leaving Seck and her three-year-old son Liam sitting in the dark in their two-room apartment, without lights, a working stove, refrigerator or TV.
Electricity prices in Germany have risen by more than 10 percent since the current coalition of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) took office. The price hike has been too much for some like Seck, an unemployed decorator from Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district.“Approximately every tenth household currently has problems paying for rising energy costs,” says Holger Krawinkel at the Federation of German Consumer Organizations.
A bunch of Fools.
No amount of magical thinking can turn technically stupid electrical supply into reasonably priced utility service. However… ya gets what ya asks for. The Germans did this to themselves. So has every other nation that swallowed the Green Kool-Aid.
How long will it take for the folks to take back their countries from the watermellons? I don’t know, but it can’t happen too soon for me.
The Germans need to follow the example set by the voters in Wisconsin.
Maybe Germany should be made to explain to their populace the justification for shutting down their nuclear program. Certainly they cant be concerned about a 9.0 earthquake or a giant tsunami. There has to be a logical reason………….maybe?
Foreseeable, yet somehow unanticipated, or perhaps officially dismissed?
Germans are known for being thrifty. I could tell you stories you wouldn’t believe. Bottom line, the Germans will put up with a lot before complaining. On the other hand, if it hits German factory output, the $|-|!+ will hit the fan.