Corona pandemic: rising energy prices will burden many households in 2022

Corona pandemic
Rising energy prices will burden many households in 2022

Rising energy prices will continue to put a strain on the household budgets of many consumers in the coming year.

This is suggested by the most recent price increases by the basic suppliers, which have already been carried out or are due at the turn of the year. The CO2 tax at the turn of the year also increases slightly. After all, there are some providers of electricity who are lowering their prices.

ELECTRICITY:

According to the comparison portal Check24, 470 basic electricity suppliers have already increased their prices or announced increases since August. At the turn of the year alone, around 330 providers want to increase. On average, the increase since summer has been 25.3 percent. For a model household with a consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours, this means additional costs of around 413 euros per year.

According to the Federal Network Agency, around 25 percent of electricity customers were in the classic basic supply in 2020. Another 37 percent of household customers also got their electricity from the basic supplier, but via different tariffs. According to Check24, there are 831 basic electricity suppliers in Germany. According to the network agency, household customers could choose an average of 142 electricity providers in their respective network area in 2020. The energy providers are obliged to publish price increases in the basic supply tariffs.

Numerous companies have introduced basic service tariffs for new customers. The surcharges there are often significantly higher than with existing customers. Some of these customers involuntarily ended up with the basic suppliers, for example after the previous energy supplier had stopped supplying them at short notice. According to the industry association BDEW, the energy companies want to use the higher prices to offset the additional costs for purchasing electricity from wholesalers. The price of electricity on the exchange during Christmas week was over 250 euros per megawatt hour, around six times as high as a year earlier.

But not all electricity providers are raising their prices. According to Check24, 44 basic suppliers want to reduce prices by an average of 2.3 percent, among other things because of the decreasing surcharge for promoting green electricity at the turn of the year. On average, a model household saves 37 euros a year. The so-called EEG surcharge will drop to 3.723 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity at the turn of the year and thus by more than 40 percent. Because the levy is only part of the price and many providers pay more when shopping than a year ago, apparently only a few companies manage to pass this on to consumers. The new federal government plans to abolish the EEG surcharge on January 1, 2023.

GAS:

In the case of gas, the increases in the number of basic suppliers are even more pronounced. Check24 had known more than 900 price increases by last Thursday. In 17 percent of the cases, prices were doubled, and eleven utilities even tripled the price. The highest increases were for new customers. Here, too, the cessation of deliveries by gas providers could play a role. The basic suppliers also have to take over the customers for gas.

The average increase was 34.4 percent. For a model household with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this means additional costs of 518 euros per year. According to the Federal Network Agency, household customers could choose between 113 gas suppliers on average in 2020. There are around 42.8 million apartments in Germany (as of 2020). Almost half of them are heated with gas.

CO2 EMISSION:

The CO2 tax also rises at the turn of the year. According to ADAC calculations, premium gasoline, diesel and heating oil will each become more expensive by around one and a half cents. The tax was introduced in Germany in 2021. It is intended to help reduce climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions in the areas of heat and transport. The so-called distributors, such as gas suppliers or mineral oil companies, have to acquire the certificates. The additional costs are usually passed on to the end user. In 2021 a certificate for one tonne of carbon dioxide cost 25 euros, in 2022 it will cost 30 euros. The price will then gradually increase to 55 euros by 2025.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The energy expert at the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center, Udo Sieverding, anticipates that electricity and gas prices will remain high in the new year. “Now everyone has to get through the winter safely. But even after that, electricity and gas prices will remain high, ”he told the German press agency. The price pressure on gas will remain. “Consumers have to be prepared for high energy prices in addition to the CO2 price.”

dpa