Luxembourg, 13/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - A press release from the Court of Justice recalls that all aids granted by a State are not State aid according to the meaning of the Treaty and that the present regulation of the electricity market does not oppose the German regulation, which requires an obligation to purchase electricity produced from renewable sources.
The German law from 1990 forces public electricity supply undertakings to buy electricity produced within their area of supply from renewable energy sources, including wind energy, at minimum prices, which are higher than the real economic value of that type of electricity, explains the Court's spokesperson. The spokesperson adds that the German law was modified in 1998 in order to foresee a mechanism for allocating extra costs due to that purchase obligation between electricity supply undertakings and upstream electricity network operators.
Schleswag is a regional electricity supply undertaking for the Land Schleswig-Holstein, which must acquire its electricity in its area of supply from renewable energy sources. A purchase obligation that lead to additional costs of DM 111.5 million in 1998. The undertaking called on PreussenElektra, an electricity supplier operating more than 25 power stations in Germany, for the payment of certain sums it had spent under its purchase obligation. PreussenElektra then brought an action against the Landgericht Kiel for the recovery of DM 500,000, corresponding to the amount paid to Schleswag in compensation for the additional costs caused by the purchase of wind electricity. Before ruling, the German court had sent the case to the European Court of Justice in order to know whether the German system was in accordance with European law.
The Court feels that neither the legal obligation instituted by the German regulation nor the financial allocation between companies "leads to a direct or indirect transfer of State resources". The fact that "the purchase obligation is imposed by statute and confers an undeniable advantage on certain undertakings was not capable of conferring upon it the character of State aid within the meaning of the Treaty" adds the press release. "The German rules were not contrary to the free movement of goods" , concluded the Court.