Status: 08/14/2022 11:06 a.m
Rapidly increasing energy costs, high food prices – according to experts, this will primarily affect those groups who have little money but do not receive any state benefits: pensioners and low earners.
According to experts, the sharp increase in energy prices will hit pensioners and low-income earners harder than the unemployed and people on social security. The reason for this is that the state bears a large part of the costs for the latter.
According to the DIW economic research institute, a significant proportion of the working population has no financial reserves. “One in three households in Germany has no significant savings that they can fall back on in these times of crisis to cover the higher costs for heating or groceries,” said Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).
The current crisis is hitting them twice as hard: “Personally, they experience inflation that is three to four times higher than people with high incomes, and they have no insurance whatsoever to deal with the additional costs.”
Welfare recipients are reimbursed for costs
Social welfare recipients would be reimbursed for the costs of food and accommodation, said Hans Maier, director of the Association of Bavarian Housing Companies (VdW Bayern). “That’s not our biggest problem group. It’s the people who don’t receive housing benefit or social assistance, such as pensioners.”
The Catholic welfare organization Caritas shares this assessment. A spokesman for the Bavarian Caritas regional association said that the higher costs for heating would not affect people who receive state benefits under Social Security Codes II and XII.
Because they could claim the increased costs at the job center or social welfare office. And these would usually be taken over in the actual amount. Hartz IV and social assistance are regulated in the two codes of law.
According to DIW President Fratzscher, there are more than two million top-ups in Germany – that is, employees who, despite their salary, are dependent on additional state aid. “Many would also be entitled to housing benefit as employees, but do not take advantage of it,” said the economist.
1700 euros additional costs per year expected
So far, many citizens have not felt the full extent of the increase in energy costs. According to experts, this will change in the coming months. The Bavarian housing companies estimated in July that the increase in the average gas price from 7 to 13 cents per kilowatt hour would mean additional costs of 1,700 euros per year for an average household. That would be a good 140 euros per month.
Since then, according to the Verivox portal, the gas price has risen again by around five cents, and a further increase is expected. In addition, there is the gas levy, the amount of which the federal government wants to announce on Monday. And apart from gas, groceries, electricity and many other things are likely to become more expensive.
“Increase also affects medium-sized companies”
“The increase in energy costs will not only affect emerging households, but also medium-sized companies,” predicted VdW director Maier. “I believe that more people will no longer be able to pay the advance payments, and maybe at some point they will no longer be able to pay the rent.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has promised further help for citizens, but the amount is so far unclear. In the long run, less income leads “first to over-indebtedness and then possibly to personal bankruptcy,” said Frank Schlein, managing director of the credit agency Crif. “People who file for personal bankruptcy do not necessarily have to be heavily indebted.” The majority of those affected have a total debt of less than 10,000 euros.