Page 78 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.70, # 2, 2013, pp. 67-79

following aspects:

1) Goals: The goals of a (revised) energy policy should be made clear from the outset. Examples
for possible goals of a revised energy policy are: reducing the dependence on energy imports and the

price risks associated with them; supporting environmental goals such as the protection of the global
climate by means of a larger share of renewable energy sources in the consumption of the primary

energy; liberalizing, protecting or strengthening the national energy sector; and, finally, stimulating the
development of innovative products and processes for the global market.

Clearly, a typical policy with multiple goals requires priorities or weights, as the various goals

need not be fully compatible. For example, increasing the share of renewable energies with the goal
to protect the global climate without having a national industry to develop technologies and produce

the relevant equipment might have a doubtful effect on the goal of stimulating the national economy.

2) Financial Issues: Policy changes of any kind are usually associated with economic
costs implying a drain on a nation’s resources. This is especially true for revisions of an energy

policy to be based on a higher and further increasing share of renewable energy sources. The
relevant question for which an answer is required refers to the distribution of the resulting

economic costs, to “burden sharing”.
In various countries, guaranteed feed-in prices for electricity from renewable sources are

financed through higher consumer prices for electricity, marked-up through the reallocation charge

for renewable energies – often with the exemption of certain industrial sectors [In Germany
industries with high energy consumption are partially exempted from the resulting price markups.

For example, industries, which consume between 10 and 100 GWh electrical energy per year pay
only 1% of the regular reallocation charge]. Clearly, other models of such a «private-public

partnership» with the public administration establishing the framework conditions and the private
economic agents paying are feasible (see also Wiesmeth (2008)).

3) Stakeholders: The relevant stakeholders for such a policy have to be identified. This

implies a thorough analysis regarding the economic agents, who will be affected by these goals,
or who are needed to achieve these goals.

Thus, if for example renewable energy sources shall gain increasing importance in a revised

energy policy, then all households and business companies should be integrated into the policy –
not just because they should pay for it. Electricity from renewable sources can be efficiently

produced in a decentralized way with small “energy plants”. Photovoltaic modules on roofs of

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