For a long time, charging up electricity in Munich was cheaper than in most other cities. But from April onwards, the city will be one of the most expensive in the country when it comes to charging current. Stadtwerke München (SWM), which owns 85 percent of the public charging stations in the city, is increasing the price per kilowatt hour by ten cents to 59 cents for normal charging at stations with alternating current (AC) and to 79 cents for fast charging at stations with direct current (DC) – as much as at the Ionity charging stations, which are located at motorway service stations, for example.
Now, electric driving is sometimes more expensive than with a combustion engine. An example calculation: If you charge your battery at the DC charging station, you will have energy costs of 15.80 euros with an electric car and a consumption of 20 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers. A gasoline engine with a consumption of seven liters is cheaper at a fuel price of 1.80 euros at 12.60 euros. The situation is different with a normal charge on an AC column. Here the costs are 11.80 for 100 kilometers. This in turn can be undercut by an economical diesel.
How can it be that charging electricity prices are rising while consumer prices at home are falling by around ten cents per kilowatt hour due to the electricity price cap? The SWM justify this with the development on the market. The electricity price for private customers had already been raised before it was reduced again on April 1st. However, the charging current is only now making the price movement and is following the steady and sharp rise in energy prices, SWM said on request.
Prices are also going up in Nuremberg and Berlin
SWM aren’t the only major utilities raising prices. The Berliner Stadtwerke, for example, are raising the price for AC columns by six cents to 55 cents per kilowatt hour, while the DC price remains the same at 65 cents. If a certain loading time is exceeded, a so-called blocking fee of two cents per minute is due. Nuremberg provider N-Ergie also increased prices by up to 20 cents in February. The regular tariff is 62 (AC) or 74 cents, plus a blocking fee of five to ten cents. Electricity customers of the provider get off cheaper, but so-called ad hoc charging with direct payment via smartphone at DC columns costs a whopping 85 cents.
SWM, on the other hand, charge the same price for all customers and payment methods. There is neither a monthly basic fee nor a blocking fee. If you have a charging card from another provider from the charging network, you also pay in Munich according to their tariff, which can then be cheaper.
In the city of Munich, SWM currently operates 595 public columns with around 1,200 charging points. This extensive infrastructure also has to be paid for. Cheaper providers such as the supermarket chain Aldi only charge 39 cents for fast charging, but only provide a handful of charging points at their stores in the Munich area.
When e-mobility picked up speed in Munich, e-car drivers at the charging stations initially paid a time tariff of 1.80 euros per hour and a monthly basic fee of 10.12 euros, then SWM introduced a consumption tariff on April 1, 2019 a. Initially, a kilowatt hour was to cost 55 cents. After the intervention of Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), SWM lowered the price to 38 cents (AC and DC), which they only increased to 49 cents for AC and 69 cents for DC on April 1, 2022.
“An increase here would be counterproductive”
What do politicians say about the upcoming increase? “We are in favor of promoting electromobility in order to achieve a sensible turnaround in traffic for Munich,” said CSU parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl when asked. “To do this, however, the prices must remain stable, an increase here would be counterproductive.”
SPD faction leader Anne Hübner explains that the current electricity prices are very difficult for everyone to cope with. “A subsidized electricity price for e-car drivers, who already benefit from privileged parking, cannot be conveyed to all other Munich residents,” she says. “Electricity prices have to go down for everyone. The public utilities should work on that.”
Green City Councilor Sebastian Weisenburger says his ecological heart bleeds given the fact that driving with a combustion engine is currently cheaper in some cases. He therefore proposed in the Economic Committee that SWM customers, like customers of other providers, should pay cheaper tariffs at charging stations. However, this is not currently planned by SWM.