On Monday it will be decided for many Germans how hard autumn and winter will be: Because that is when the exact amount of the gas levy will be announced. Here you will find the most important questions and answers.
On Monday it will be announced exactly how high the gas surcharge should be. With the gas levy, the federal government is trying to save gas importers who have been hit hard by the throttled Russian gas supplies. From October, consumers in Germany will then have to pay more to protect systemically important suppliers from collapsing. However, a lot is still unclear at the moment.
The exact amount is calculated by a joint venture of the gas suppliers, the so-called Trading Hub Europe. It should be announced on Monday. Estimates by the Ministry of Economics were recently at 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour. All gas consumers, companies and private households, have to pay the surcharge.
The comparison portal Verivox calculated additional costs of between 89 and 298 euros for this range for a single household with an annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours. A typical couple household would be charged between 214 and 714 euros, a family in a single-family house (20,000 kilowatt hours consumption) with 357 to 1190 euros. This includes VAT.
However, this range is still subject to fluctuations. This includes sometimes drastic price increases, which gradually reach customers. Many people are affected because around half of all apartments in Germany are heated with gas.
The levy applies from the beginning of October. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, however, payments are only due with a time delay, also for consumer protection reasons. A period of four to six weeks applies. Accordingly, the first citizens will probably be asked to pay in November or December.
However, the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) expects that some suppliers will bill their customers for the surcharge from October 1st.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the gas surcharge is billed monthly. It can be adjusted every three months. Should the full volume of Russian gas deliveries arrive in Germany again, the surcharge will be set to zero but not canceled.
How much consumers ultimately have to pay depends on how much gas is coming and how high the demand is. The higher the compensation for the importers, the higher the surcharge.
Gas importers are contractually obliged to honor their deliveries. Due to the reduced Russian imports, they have to compensate for these quantities elsewhere – often in significantly more expensive quantities on the spot market, the so-called short-term market.
So far, these additional costs cannot be passed on. This has resulted in considerable losses, which are threatening the existence of many. One consequence of this: the billion-euro rescue package that the federal government agreed with the utility Uniper.
In order to finance this rescue package, the federal government decided on the gas surcharge – instead of financing from the state budget. Because that would be associated with “considerable burdens” on the budget, according to the regulation. Politically, the federal government is also sending a price signal: Saving on gas is also worthwhile financially because the levy is not as high.
In principle, these are compensation payments to the importers, which means that private and business customers pay a certain amount depending on their consumption, which is transferred to the gas importers. These, in turn, are intended to prevent the threat of insolvency and “further massive price increases”.
The gas surcharge is calculated using an extremely complex formula. It should also take into account the price differences between contractually agreed and actual purchase prices. Auditors must also ask exactly how high the additional costs will ultimately be.
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The compensation decided by the federal government is linked to the contractual obligations of the importers. They still have to bear the additional costs themselves until October, when the levy will take effect – until April 1, 2024. During this period, the gas importers only bear ten percent of the costs.
How to deal with fixed contracts is unclear and, according to the ministry, is currently being examined. Around 25 percent of household customers and small businesses have contractually agreed a price guarantee with their suppliers. However, according to the BDEW and the association of municipal companies, an adjustment is not possible until October 1st.
According to reports from “WirtschaftsWoche”, some suppliers had already leveraged this price guarantee in May – and increased their customers’ prices. For them, fixed contracts with the currently rapidly rising gas prices are too high a risk. But there is no uniform set of rules for checking these increases. Instead, the individual case applies here. Action against impermissible price increases is particularly difficult for private customers, whose contracts often contain clauses that are difficult to understand. Some contracts also contain clauses that relate to government-related additional costs and make it legal to overturn the price guarantee.
With contractually secured price guarantees, the utility companies can overturn them if they can prove a so-called “business disruption” – which many will try in the face of rising prices. However, success is by no means guaranteed, because courts traditionally set the hurdles for such disruptions very high. Not all increased costs are included. In addition, the disruption must be unexpected and companies must also demonstrate whether they have taken an unnecessary risk in the gas market. However, all of these factors can only be checked on a case-by-case basis.
Affected consumers can lodge an objection with their utility company and only pay with reservations. If you want to claim money back, you must do so within three years. If your energy supplier does not respond to the objection, you can also apply for an arbitration procedure.
According to the Federal Consumer Association (vzbv), these are inadmissible – and may be reason for a model declaratory action. But if and when that will happen is currently unclear. Should it come to that, those affected can also participate.
As of now, VAT is due on the state gas levy – so the state also earns. An exclusive FOCUS online calculation shows that a gas surcharge of 5 cents per kilowatt hour would result in 19 percent VAT. This could generate additional tax revenue for the state of around 2.6 billion euros. The federal government itself would like to do without VAT. However, this is not provided for under European law.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has asked for an exception at EU level: In a letter to EU Finance Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, Lindner asked him to use his right of initiative and give the EU states the opportunity to reduce state taxes in the energy sector for not to charge VAT for a limited time.
On Friday, Lindner referred to the current extraordinary situation in view of the Ukraine war and the growing resistance among the population to the VAT levy on state taxes.
Irrespective of this, Germany will apply for an exception under Article 395 of the VAT Directive.
In addition, consumers will also have to pay a gas storage levy in autumn. This is intended to reimburse Trading Hub Europe, i.e. the joint venture of the gas suppliers, for certain costs. This includes the additional effort that you incur for the purchase of gas and thus for ensuring our supply. According to information from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, this surcharge should not be particularly high.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) confirmed on Thursday that the government would not leave the citizens alone. At the beginning of 2023, for example, there should be more housing allowance and a permanent subsidy for heating costs. Finance Minister Lindner is also planning tax relief – but this is controversial in the coalition.
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