The gas price shock is now having its full impact on consumers in Munich: the municipal utilities will roughly double their prices on January 1, 2023. An average two-person household with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours per year will have to pay 307 euros per month, according to a statement from the municipal subsidiary. At the moment the price is 159 euros. This means additional gas costs of 1776 euros in one year.
Viewed over a period of one year, the additional costs for the people of Munich are of course even more severe. Because the public utilities have already increased the gas price twice this year. The two-person household mentioned paid only 94 euros a month until December 31, 2021. With the increase on January 1, 2022, the amount was 117 euros, with the next increase on August 1, 2022 to 159. The gas price will thus more than triple compared to the end of last year on January 1.
Converted to the example household, the increase this time is 93 percent. However, according to the Stadtwerke, the reduction in sales tax on gas from 19 to seven percent is already included. Not yet included in the bill are the expert commission’s proposals to ease the burden on gas customers. The state would then pay the down payment once in December and, from March 2023 onwards, would lower the price to twelve cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of consumption.
“We are aware that rising prices are very bad news,” said Stefan Tauber, head of customer service at Stadtwerke. But his company “can no longer cushion the extremely high procurement costs”. Compared to the beginning of 2021, the delivery prices have risen by 950 percent, said Stadtwerke boss Florian Bieberbach on Wednesday in a current hour in the economic committee of the city council. “In the gas market we have hyperinflation, so to speak,” said Bieberbach.
Stadtwerke recommends customers to quickly increase the payment on account for gas in order to avoid a hefty additional payment in one piece (possible at www.swm.de/abschlag). If customers cannot pay the increase or can hardly pay it, they should contact them quickly. Then solutions are sought. “Nobody has to freeze because of payment difficulties,” promise the public utility company.