Merkel Says Renewables Changes Shouldn't Be Election Issue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday the costs of the country's planned switch to renewable energy sources and rising energy prices shouldn't become a political issue as the country moves toward an election campaign.

"My plea is that we, independent of election campaign times, continue to sit down together, particularly when it's about changing the renewable energy sources law," Ms. Merkel said at an economic council of her conservative Christian Democratic Union party in Berlin .

Moving to prevent a political backlash over the costs of shifting to alternative energy from nuclear power, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, a senior ally of Chancellor Merkel, earlier this week announced plans to cap the rise in household electricity prices and force industry to pay a greater share of the bill for Germany 's energy shift to renewable power.

Germany is in the process of exiting all nuclear power generation over the next decade and shifting its energy supply to renewable energies. The share of renewable energy on the German market currently stands at about 22%, according to the Economics Ministry.

"For me it's clear, there has to be a change to the renewable energy law if we want to keep three things together: price compatibility, enironmentally-friendliness and security of supply," Ms. Merkel said.

Speaking at the same event Friday, Environment Minister Altmaier said that legal rules on capping power price increases should be introduced before the election in the fall, but a reform of the renewable energy law should only take place after the election.