Electricity and gas prices will fall for millions of households in Germany next year, as a study by the comparison portal Verivox shows. Nevertheless, it is often worth changing providers.
Consumers can expect cheaper tariffs due to lower wholesale prices for gas and electricity. As an analysis by the comparison portal Verivox shows, electricity and gas prices will fall for millions of households in Germany in the coming year. Around half of local suppliers pass on lower wholesale prices to their customers, says Verivox.
Hundreds of providers evaluated
For the analysis, Verivox evaluated the available published gas and electricity prices for existing customers of around 700 local basic gas suppliers and around 800 local basic electricity suppliers in Germany.
According to Verivox, 430 electricity price reductions of an average of 13 percent were announced at the turn of the year. For a three-person household with an annual consumption of 4,000 kWh, this corresponds to a relief of around 287 euros per year. 16.5 million households live in the affected basic supply areas. At the same time, 55 electricity price increases of around 5 percent were announced, which corresponds to around 87 euros. This affects around 2 million households.
Electricity prices remain high
But according to Verivox, the electricity price level for local basic services remains high: despite the announced reductions, a kilowatt hour of electricity still costs 44.23 cents. A three-person household with a consumption of 4,000 kilowatt hours has an annual cost of 1,769 euros for basic services.
“Around 45 percent of the tariffs still have a labor price of over 40 cents per kilowatt hour,” explains Thorsten Storck, energy expert at Verivox. According to the expert, there are now significantly cheaper offers on the market that could bring significant savings to households.
Price reductions also for natural gas
According to Verivox, 396 natural gas price reductions of an average of 15 percent were announced for next January. For a single-family home with an annual consumption of 20,000 kWh, heating costs would fall by around 507 euros per year, the experts have calculated. 19 million households will benefit from these reductions. But Verivox has counted at least 43 gas price increases of an average of 12 percent. Around 1.9 million households live in these areas.
In the future, a kilowatt hour of gas will cost an average of around 13.47 cents at the local gas supplier’s standard tariff – at least with 7 percent VAT, which is due by the end of February 2024. The price then rises to 14.98 cents/kWh. According to Verivox, the heating costs for a single-family home with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours are 2,694 euros per year in this tariff group.
Cheap offers well below price limits
The state gas price brake takes effect from a kilowatt hour price of 12 cents. According to Verivox, around 64 percent of the standard tariffs of local gas suppliers are still above this value. Anyone who changes gas supplier can achieve significantly better prices, according to Verivox: a kilowatt hour of gas currently costs an average of 8.44 cents with the cheapest offer with recommended contract conditions.
As the comparison portal has determined, the cheapest electricity tariff with recommended contract conditions is currently at an average price of 28.8 cents per kilowatt hour. The cap amount for the electricity price brake is 40 cents. Here, too, it is worth considering a tariff change.