Icon: enlarge
Power pole
Photo: A3502 Horst Ossinger / dpa
The electricity costs of many consumers rose significantly during the corona pandemic.
This is shown by an evaluation by the non-profit consulting company co2online for SPIEGEL.
Electricity consumption per household rose by an average of 162 kilowatt hours in 2020, which corresponds to an increase of around five percent.
At an average price of 31.37 cents per kilowatt hour, the average additional costs are around 50 euros.
The main reason for the higher consumption is that many people spend more time at home because of shutdowns, homeschooling and home office work.
The basis for the evaluation of co2online are 3212 data records from private households, which are based on actual electricity meter readings.
Almost three quarters of the households evaluated therefore consumed more electricity.
In other analyzes, the cost spikes are even greater.
According to a survey of around 500 consumers that the Verivox portal carried out for SPIEGEL, electricity customers had to pay an average of 112 euros for 2020.
At almost 80 percent, the monthly discounts increased, on average by almost a fifth.
Consumers waste up to ten billion euros
In addition to the corona pandemic, a general waste of electricity is also driving costs.
According to co2online, consumers in Germany pay up to ten billion euros on top every year because they do not use common options for saving electricity.
In many households there are still no LED lamps or economy shower heads and hardly any energy-efficient devices.
As a result, unnecessary emissions of almost 15 million tons of CO2 are created every year.
These figures can be found in the new current mirror, a survey by co2online and several research institutes, business associations and consumer advocates, which is funded by the Federal Environment Ministry.
Data from around 290,000 consumers were evaluated for the survey.
The results were available to SPIEGEL in advance.
Specifically, a two-person household in an apartment building that heats its water with electricity and consumes a total of 2800 kilowatt hours per year can save up to 320 euros in electricity costs.
A family of four in a single-family house who does not heat their water with electricity and uses 4,000 kilowatt hours a year can even save a good 410 euros.
"Anyone who deals with their own electricity consumption can very easily contribute to protecting the climate in the long term," says Tanja Loitz, managing director of co2online.
"Saving energy in buildings is the be-all and end-all for climate protection - even during the pandemic."
Icon: The mirror
