Gasag’s tariff calculator is switched off. Until last week, Berliner Versorger was still recruiting new customers here, but now they prefer not to do it. “The prices on the energy markets have been so capricious,” says a spokeswoman for the capital’s utility, “that we were no longer able to make an acceptable offer.” However, the basic and replacement supply continues. This, however, soon at higher prices: by almost 30 percent on May 1st for the majority of customers. And so Gasag is not an isolated case. The rude awakening is approaching.
Most consumers currently only encounter the higher prices at petrol stations. Diesel is more expensive than premium gasoline, the prices well over two euros – drivers have to get used to the sight of this price table. “It is often forgotten that many car trips are not absolutely necessary,” says Ann-Kathrin Schneider, head of the cycling association ADFC. After all, half of all car journeys are shorter than five kilometers, and a quarter are even shorter than two kilometers. “We assume that most of the shorter trips can be made by bike,” says Schneider. The only thing missing in many places was the right cycle paths.
Millions of consumers will be hit far harder in their own four walls. They can turn down the heating, but they can’t just switch to other energies. Instead, the heating bills for 2021 are now gradually arriving. Measured against the current level, the prices at the time were much lower, but still significantly higher than in the previous year. There is a risk of hefty additional payments – even for those who don’t have that much anyway. The coalition had originally planned a heating subsidy of 135 euros to relieve housing benefit and student loans recipients. However, according to the will of the construction politicians in the coalition, it should not stay that way. The subsidy makes “a contribution that is too small to seriously compensate for the price increases for heating and heating in recent months,” says SPD politician Bernhard Daldrup. It will probably be refilled here.
Of course, that doesn’t get to the root of the problem either. “Basically, it has been known for years that we can and must do more when it comes to consumption,” says Udo Sieverding, an energy expert at the consumer center in North Rhine-Westphalia. If you live in a renovated, well-insulated apartment, you don’t have to worry about rising energy prices. Still, too little has happened. “And now we have reached a pain threshold where previous routines are also being reviewed.” This can be seen from the current rush for energy advice.
This, however, threatens the next problem: craftsmen are already in short supply. But if houses and apartments were renovated en masse, there would be a serious bottleneck here, with rising prices for the projects. “Anyone who still gets a craftsman should get started,” advises Sieverding. Because the demand for renovations is likely to continue in the coming years. Politicians should now think about how to remedy the shortage of qualified personnel.
A phalanx of environmental, consumer and business associations is already calling for a “summit on energy sovereignty”. In an appeal by almost two dozen associations, it says: “Reducing dependence on fossil energy imports is the order of the day”. Appeals to save energy and targeted support for simple technical measures are needed. Changing a thermostat or insulating a basement ceiling can often help.
Higher wages and salaries could help with rising inflation
Higher energy costs not only affect consumers when heating and driving, they also come indirectly. Take food, for example: Farmers also need fuel. Fertilizer production becomes more expensive, and if it costs more to heat a greenhouse, so do the tomatoes grown there. Take transport, for example: Higher fuel prices also make logistics and thus all products that are transported over longer distances more expensive. They make flying more expensive and thus also make tourist trips more expensive – which then continues in hotels: they also have to pay higher heating bills.
In the end, all of this sums up in a single indicator: inflation. It was 5.1 percent in February. So that at least the employees among the consumers can cope with this, there is only one answer to such a burden: higher wages and salaries. If you also throttle your energy consumption, you are well prepared for further capers.