Additional costs for consumers: gas surcharge from October to 2024

Gas customers will probably have to reckon with additional costs from October. Then a levy should come into force, which relieves gas importers. The suppliers should be able to pass on increased purchase prices to all consumers.

The planned surcharge for all gas customers is expected to apply from October 1st. The news agencies dpa and Reuters report this, citing government circles. How much the gas price will increase for consumers as a result remains open for the time being. The amount of the surcharge should be published on the Internet by the end of August. It depends on which compensation claims the gas importers assert.

According to the report, payments will probably not be due directly from October, but a little later. About half of all apartments in Germany are heated with gas.

Last week Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated an increase in gas prices by two cents per kilowatt hour and spoke of additional annual costs of 200 or 300 euros for a family of four. At the same time, Scholz promised citizens support in the event of price increases. It should be prevented that someone is faced with an unsolvable situation, he said.

The surcharge should apply for a year and a half, i.e. until the end of March 2024. Economics Minister Robert Habeck also wants to comment on the plans in the course of the morning.

Allocation to cover extra costs

The surcharge is intended to pay for the extra costs that importers have to pay for the short-term and expensive procurement of replacement gas because of the cutback in Russian supplies. The suppliers should be able to pass on the sharply increased purchase prices to all consumers.

According to Reuters, Paragraph 26 of the Energy Security Act is to come into force by ministerial decree: From October, the difference between the current tariffs and the extra costs of the importers can be determined and distributed equally among all customers. Municipal utilities, for example, could then also pass them on to household customers. First, the allocation is calculated on the basis of an assumption of the costs and then offset against the actual costs afterwards.