Wind turbines in Brandenburg (symbol picture): The electricity prices in Germany have more than doubled since the turn of the millennium
Photo: Patrick Pleul / picture alliance / dpa
In international comparison, German consumers have to spend an enormous amount of money on electricity.
This is shown by an analysis of 126 countries that the comparison portal Verivox carried out with purchasing power-adjusted data from the energy service Global Petrol Prices and that is available to SPIEGEL.
Overall, the Federal Republic of Germany is in 16th place in the international ranking - with most of the states with even higher electricity prices being crisis-ridden developing countries in which some residents cannot afford electricity at all.
The top ten accordingly include countries such as Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.
The only first world country in which electricity prices are even higher than in Germany, according to Verivox, is Portugal (13th place).
Among the G20 countries, Germany is the country with the most expensive electricity - and by a large margin.
In Turkey and Italy, which follow in second and third place, electricity prices are around ten cents cheaper when adjusted for purchasing power.
As a result, German consumers have to spend a larger proportion of their disposable income on electricity than customers in other wealthy EU countries.
According to Verivox, the annual consumption of a one-person household (1500 kilowatt hours) accounts for around 1.2 percent of the average per capita economic output - more than twice as much as in Sweden or the Netherlands.
The per capita electricity quota is higher than in Germany only in comparatively poor EU countries such as Romania or Bulgaria.
Overall, electricity prices in Germany have more than doubled since the turn of the millennium.
The kilowatt hour currently costs around 32.10 cents on average in the basic supply.
The reason for the price high are numerous taxes and charges such as the EEG surcharge or network charges.
They now make up around two thirds of the electricity price.
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