Germany and the European Commission have reached an agreement on exemptions to renewable energy surcharges that benefit some German industrial companies, government and industry sources told Reuters yesterday.

The sources said final details of the agreement still had to be worked out, but that Germany had allayed EU concerns that its renewable energy law contradicted the bloc’s rules on industry rebates.

Under the agreement, a cap of four per cent of gross value added (GVA) for the renewable energy surcharge will be set on industrial energy users. The cap for heavy industry users will be lower at 2.5 per cent of GVA, the sources told Reuters.

The European Commission was looking into whether such discounts on surcharges were giving Germany’s industry an unfair advantage over rival companies in other EU countries.

The discounts are worth some €5.1 billion a year. They are designed to help Germany’s transition to renewable energy.