Energy costs
Comparison: German households pay a lot for electricity
In a global comparison, households in Germany continue to pay a lot for electricity. Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
“In no other G20 country is electricity more expensive,” says a Verivox study. About half of the German electricity price is due to taxes and duties.
In a global comparison, households in Germany continue to pay a lot for electricity. This is the result of an evaluation of the comparison portal Verivox for the second quarter of 2021.
According to Verivox, electricity prices in Germany are in 15th place in an international comparison, taking into account the comparatively high purchasing power in this country. “In no other G20 country is electricity more expensive,” it said.
Most expensive in Rwanda
Italy and the United Kingdom followed by some distance in the group of the most important industrialized and emerging countries. Adjusted for purchasing power, electricity was the most expensive in Rwanda, followed by Mali and Burkina Faso. A good year ago, in an earlier evaluation, Germany had the highest electricity prices among the G20 countries and was ranked 16th. The «Spiegel» reported on the current evaluation on Monday. The evaluation was based on data from the “Global Petrol Prices” energy price data portal.
According to the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management, half of the electricity price is currently due to taxes and duties. The electricity grid operators receive a quarter of the price. The remaining quarter goes to the electricity suppliers for procurement and sales.
New all-time high in Germany
According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, the electricity price reached a new all-time high in October 2021. The average prices extrapolated to one year resulted in annual costs of 1,556 euros for a model household with an annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours. That corresponds to an average price of 31.1 cents per kilowatt hour. In October 2020 it was 1467 euros.
According to Check24, 36 basic electricity suppliers have already increased their prices or announced increases since August. On average, the price increases were 7.9 percent. For a model household, this would result in additional costs averaging 126 euros per year.