The real cost of electricity
The price of electricity per MWh represents a cost of 700 euros if it is produced with gas. A wind turbine is less than 100 euros, nuclear power around 60 euros and photovoltaics between 80 and 110 euros, explains Damien Ernst.
“There are clearly excess profits in the current situation for all producers who do not use gas to produce electricity. We could easily reduce the price of electricity on the wholesale markets by a factor of 3 or even mixes 4”he continues.
Centralization of purchases at European level
Damien Ernst recommends doing like Portugal and Spain which have imposed a maximum price for electricity produced with gas. And that tends to drive all prices down.
Spain and Portugal have prices 3 to 4 times lower than ours. Belgium, like other countries, lacked responsiveness, says Damien Ernst.
Taxing superprofits, the false good idea
If taxing excess profits may seem interesting, Damien Ernst believes that the process is too complicated and that it will not work. “We must prevent overprofits rather than running after them. This is what producers fear the most because taxing overprofits, all you have to do is put in place tax engineering, and in the end the State will not recover anything. or almost.”