Relief for many households in terms of basic supplies: electricity and gas prices fall in December and January. But you still save the most by switching to an alternative tariff.
Consumers in basic services can look forward to significant price reductions: 83 suppliers have so far announced electricity price reductions for December and January. On average, savings for households amount to twelve percent, according to the comparison portal Verivox.
However, five suppliers have also announced increases of an average of two percent. According to Verivox, this results in a future average price for local basic supply of a good 46 cents per kilowatt hour.
It’s best to get out of there primary care
This means that the price of the basic supply is still well above the electricity price cap. This caps the price of electricity at 40 cents until the end of the year. According to the wishes of the federal government, the electricity price brake should be extended until the end of April 2024. On October 11, the cabinet approved a corresponding formulation aid for the necessary amendment to the Growth Opportunities Act. However, the Bundestag still has to agree. Berlin is also still waiting for approval from Brussels.
Electricity price brake or electricity price brake: it is generally not advisable for consumers to remain in the basic supply anyway. Verivox points out that alternative tariffs currently offer electricity from just 27 cents per kilowatt hour.
Gas price in primary care more about price brakes
For natural gas, the comparison portal has so far registered 99 announced price reductions in basic supplies for December and January, by an average of 15 percent. However, there were also isolated price increases here, namely at ten basic suppliers. Verivox determined a good 14 cents per kilowatt hour as the future gas price for basic services.
This value is also clearly above the gas price brake, which caps the price at twelve cents. The Federal Cabinet also wants the gas price brake to be extended until April. Here too, the change is worthwhile: gas is currently available from 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour in alternative tariffs, according to Verivox.
Rising VAT will make gas significantly more expensive
Despite falling prices for basic services and gas and electricity price brakes, consumers are threatened with rising gas costs at the turn of the year – and that in the middle of the heating season: If the federal government has its way, the VAT on gas should rise again to the regular rate on January 1st, that is from currently seven to 19 percent.
The comparison portal CHECK24 recently calculated that the resulting additional costs for a model household amount to 264 euros per year. That would significantly exceed the savings from an extended gas price cap, which CHECK24 puts at 64 euros. Overall, consumers would face additional costs of 200 euros.
Rising network fees are making electricity more expensive
In the future, households will also have to dig deeper into their pockets for electricity. The so-called network fees that are due for the transmission of electricity are expected to rise by around eleven percent to a record high. This reflects the high costs of expanding the German energy network. For a model household with a consumption of 5,000 kilowatt hours, the costs for using the electricity network increase from an average of 425 to 472 euros per year.
With information from Angela Göpfert, ARD financial editorial team.