Legal problems encountered in connection with investment control pursuant to section 4 Energy Industry Law (EnWG)

The weak definition of facts in section 4 of the EnWG (of Dec. 13, 1934) for years now focuses interests and discussions on the problem of competence of appraisal and decision. The questions arising are: How far goes the competence of the supervising authority in the energy sector to judge the energy demand forecast of a public utility to be unrealistic or unjustified? Whose forecast shall have priority? What are the lines of orientation of demand forecasting? What is the role of the courts? These are questions concerning the authorities and the capital spending utilities alike, so there is need for examining the legal problems involved in interpretation and application of section 4 of the EnWG. The author presents a systematic survey which is discussed in the light of joint responsibility of the government and industry. A reason for making this study was the order of the Land government of Hessen, stopping the planning work of Preussen-Elektra for a 1300 MWe PWR-type reactor station at Borken. (orig./HP)