"We are in our 10th year of an economic uptrend but if power becomes unaffordable, we cannot retain a functioning industrial basis," Altmaier told the annual energy industry conference organised by the Handelsblatt business paper.

Companies want some protection from the rise they fear they will see in electricity prices when coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants are taken off the grid in the coming years.

"We will take clear and responsible steps to compensate energy-intensive companies," he added.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Christoph Steitz, editing by Tassilo Hummel)