Electricity and gas will be significantly more expensive in the coming year. A new evaluation now shows that millions of Germans will then have to dig deeper into their pockets.
According to the comparison portal Check24, around eleven million households will have to adjust to sharply rising prices for the basic supply of electricity or gas at the turn of the year. As the portal announced on Friday in Munich, providers nationwide have announced significant increases in their corresponding tariffs for January 1 in around 1000 cases.
Check24 recorded 595 announcements of price increases in basic electricity supply tariffs, affecting around 7.4 million households. Compared to September 30, the increase is an average of 60.5 percent, for a family of four with an annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours, that is an average of 960 euros more.
According to the portal, there are also 419 cases of increases in basic gas supply tariffs for around 3.5 million households. On average, customers expected a price increase of 56 percent compared to September 30, 2022. For a family of four in a terraced house and an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this amounts to annual additional gas costs of an average of 1254 euros.
The comparison portal Verivox also warned on Friday of a massive wave of price increases in the electricity sector. According to its count, the regional suppliers announced tariff increases in 558 cases for the coming year, with an average increase of 54 percent to be expected. For a three-person household with an annual consumption of 4000 kilowatt hours, this amounts to additional costs of 700 euros, explained Verivox in Heidelberg.
Due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and problems with nuclear power production in France, prices for energy in Europe have literally exploded in recent months. According to Check24 and Verivox, electricity costs for consumers have already risen by around a third within a year – that was several hundred euros for a model household with three or four members.
Wholesale electricity and gas prices fell in November, at least compared to peaks from the previous months. According to Verivox, this leads, among other things, to more favorable conditions for new electricity customers. While the tariffs for these in September and October were often more than 55 cents per kilowatt hour, they are currently only 43 cents. However, this does not mean the all-clear for customers with basic services, since their tariffs have so far generally been at a significantly lower price level of around 37 cents per kilowatt hour.
