Germany's decision to switch off its nuclear power stations by 2022 is expected to cost German industry almost 2 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars) annually, dpa cited research as releasing Tuesday. High energy-consuming manufacturers would see their electricity bills rise around 10 per cent, Hubertus Bardt of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) told the German Press Agency dpa. Germany has decided to wind down its 17 nuclear power generators over the next decade, with eight already having been taken off the grid, following the nuclear disaster in which one of Japan's Fukushima plants was struck in March by an earthquake and tsunami. The move will drive electricity prices up by almost 1 euro cent per kilowatt per hour, according to findings published Tuesday by the IW. "One cent does not sound like much. But many million little cents could threaten the profitability of entire corporations," said IW director Michael Huether. By analyzing energy consumption over recent years, the institute calculated that this price hike adds up to an estimated 1.9 billion euros annually. The worst affected industries will be those with power-intensive processes such as paper production, the chemicals industry and the metalworking sector. The IW proposed state incentives to help these industries remain internationally competitive.