More than 340,000 electricity customers across Germany have their power cut off each year for failing to pay bills. A new proposal from one political party aims to change this.
Each year between 2011 and 2015, electricity providers cut off power to at least 300,000 German households who could no longer afford to pay their bills, the government revealed on Thursday.
Hundreds of German electricity providers have announced that they are raising prices starting on January 1st. But you can avoid it - and you'll probably save a lot of cash in the process.
UPDATED: All of the energy company's brown coal sites in Germany are set to go on sale as the Swedish state-owned firm moves to focus on renewable energy.
Power companies will drop their prices from January 2015 for the first time in over a decade, saving families up to €35 a year – but is it 'too little, too late'?
Plans to build Germany's longest power grid link, stretching 800 kilometres from north to south through the heart of the country, were unveiled on Wednesday. Protests and challenges are expected along the route.
Despite solemn pledges to switch over to clean energy, brown coal is booming in Germany. Environmentalists warn it is endangering the country's record as a leader on climate issues.
Energy prices will not leap at the start of the new year as they did this time last year, as lower prices, thanks to wind and solar power and fracking in the US, filter down to customers.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would fight against moves by the European Commission to probe German help for large companies amid its shift to green energy.
A campaign in Berlin to buy the city's energy network and run it independently from the capital's government failed by a whisker to get enough votes in a referendum on Sunday.
The cost for consumers of supporting renewable energy could jump by up 20 percent over the next year leading to increases in electricity bills, it emerged on Monday.
Germany could face a probe into whether it has breached EU competition rules by letting consumers partly foot the bill as it switches to renewable energy, <i>Der Spiegel</i> reported on Sunday.
Germany will stop subsidizing solar energy by 2018 at the latest, its environment minister said on Monday after last year initiating a scaling-back of generous state support for the faltering industry.
German electricity exports rose again last year, quashing concerns that the country's nuclear phase-out would lead to shortages. New figures show a four-fold increase in export surplus since 2011.
Despite the German government's dedication to ridding the country of nuclear power, it will continue to use public money to guarantee the construction of such power stations in other countries, it was reported at the weekend.
German scientists have developed a new technology to transform garden waste into fuel overnight, <i>Der Spiegel</i> magazine reported over the weekend. The resulting brown pellets can be used to fire conventional power stations.
The worst power cut to hit Munich in 20 years threw the Bavarian capital into early morning chaos on Thursday. Thousands of commuters were left stranded as public transport ground to a halt and traffic lights went out.
Despite regular apocalyptic warnings of black-outs due to the nuclear power shutdown, a recent boom in renewables means that Germany is exporting more electricity than ever before, new figures show.
Millions of train passengers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) could be faced with disrupted journeys this winter if a regional coal plant is shut down as planned - causing power shortages, a rail boss warned on Thursday.
Households in Germany pay around €3 billion too much for their electricity each year, according to a market analysis which says industry is benefitting from state aid for the switch to renewables – but domestic customers are being left out.
