Millions of customers affected
Electricity and gas are particularly expensive here – is your supplier included?
Millions of electricity and gas customers are currently receiving letters of price increase
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Hundreds of electricity and gas suppliers raise their prices at the turn of the year. Some even double it. Our maps and tables show who is affected and how badly.
Energy prices for private consumers have been rising for months. At the end of the year, the wave of price increases for gas and electricity swelled again enormously. More than 400 of the 700 or so gas suppliers have currently increased their prices or announced this for December or January, as the comparison portals Verivox and Check24 report. Around 200 basic suppliers are reporting price increases for electricity.
The deadline for utilities to report increases at the turn of the year expires on November 19. You will find an overview of all previously known price increases by the basic providers here for gas and here for electricity. “We are currently experiencing a price chaos in the energy market. Hundreds of providers are increasing their prices drastically. This will not infrequently lead to additional costs of more than a thousand euros in the coming year,” says Arik Meyer, head of the Switchup exchange service.
Gas is becoming hundreds of euros more expensive
Gas customers in particular should look carefully at the letters from their suppliers at the moment. Because some of the announced increases are massive. With individual gas suppliers, the prices even double. On average, gas is around 25 percent more expensive for 2.7 million households, reports Check24. Verivox even counted 3.9 million households affected for the entire second half of the year, with gas prices rising by an average of 21 percent. A household with 20,000 kilowatt hours of annual consumption pays 305 euros more per year for gas, and in the Check24 bill it is 369 euros.
The wave of price increases for electricity is somewhat more moderate, although it is already at a record level. The announced price increases will affect around 1.5 million households and averaging seven to nine percent. As a result, an average household has to pay around 100 to 150 euros more per year for electricity. On the other hand, 21 basic electricity suppliers are even lowering their prices slightly at the turn of the year. Then the EEG surcharge will also decrease, which will at least relieve electricity prices somewhat.
The gas shortage in Europe is striking at the moment, the gas storage facilities are significantly emptier than usual at this time of the year. On the one hand, this is due to the recent increase in demand due to an economy awakening from the corona crisis. Above all, however, the supply is stalling, which is due to political tensions with the main supplier Russia. In addition, the CO2 tax is driving the gas price, which will rise from 25 to 30 euros per ton in January 2022.
According to a federal state evaluation by Verivox, the gas price increases are particularly strong for customers in northern Germany. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the price increases for basic gas suppliers averaged 40 percent, in Hamburg 30 percent. The price increases are also above average in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt.
Table: Price increases for gas
Source: Verivox; Prices for households with 20,000 kWh annual consumption; As of November 18, 2021
Table: Electricity price increases
Source: Verivox; Prices for households with an annual consumption of 4000 kWh; As of November 18, 2021
Save money with bills of exchange
However, consumers are completely helpless in the wave of price increases. Anyone who receives a letter announcing a price increase has the right to special notice and can switch. Comparison portals help to find a cheaper electricity or gas provider. Customers who have never changed and are therefore still stuck in the comparatively expensive basic supply can save the most. You can switch at any time without increasing the price.
In addition to the classic comparison portals, Stiftung Warentest recently also tested alternative exchange services such as Wechselpilot or Switchup. (Read more about it here.)