Abstract
The article analyses why Germany has one of the highest prices for household electricity worldwide. This is the result of a long-term trend: for more than 20 years, the price of electricity has been rising much faster than consumer prices. The reason for this is the political decision to accelerate the renewable energy transition through subsidies and regulations rather than through price mechanisms. The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) of 2000 gave absolute priority to the expansion of renewable energies over economic efficiency and costs. This led to inefficiencies in the rollout of renewables and in grid expansion and increased the risk of destabilising the electricity system. Therefore, a massive expansion and restructuring of the German electricity system is necessary.