BERLIN (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has called on EU member states to stagger energy prices to help poor households, in an interview published on Sunday.

"EU states can ensure that low income groups do not have their electricity supply cut off and they should do so," Barroso told Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

He proposed that lower prices be introduced for those levels of energy consumption that cover basic household needs.

"Introducing a special tariff for energy use levels needed to cover basic requirements would be an example of a good solution," Barroso said.

He also urged Germany to rethink its decision to phase out nuclear energy.

"We know that nuclear energy is a controversial subject in Germany, but other nations are increasingly seeing it as a solution, at least a temporary one, to help stop climate change and reduce our dependency on oil and gas."

The German government has agreed to respect a long-standing decision to mothball the country's 17 nuclear power plants by 2020, but Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition remains divided over the issue.

Merkel insists that a nuclear phase-out would hinder efforts to slash Germany's dependency on greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels.

LIKE IT?  LET OTHERS KNOW