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Electricity pylons in Germany (symbol picture)
Photo: Z1030 Federico Gambarini / dpa
Electricity remains a sometimes significant cost factor for consumers in Germany - and according to a media report it is becoming more and more expensive.
After the Federal Republic of Germany took the lead in the highest electricity prices in Europe from Denmark in 2019, costs rose again in 2020.
That is what the newspapers of the Funke media group (Monday editions) quote from data from the Federal Statistical Office.
Small households with an electricity consumption of 1200 kilowatt hours had to pay 34.30 cents per kilowatt hour last year; in 2019 it was 33.49 cents.
It has also become significantly more expensive for larger households with an annual consumption of 3500 kilowatt hours.
According to the information, they paid an average of 30.43 cents per kilowatt hour after 29.83 cents in the previous year.
According to the statisticians, electricity prices fell in the European average last year, according to the newspapers: in the euro area by 0.53 cents to 22.47 cents per kilowatt hour.
And in the 27 countries of the European Union by 0.51 cents to 21.26 cents.
Overall, electricity prices in Germany have more than doubled since the turn of the millennium.
The reason for the high price are numerous taxes and charges, such as the EEG surcharge or network charges.
They now make up around two thirds of the electricity price.
Germany was also far ahead in a global comparison
In September 2020, an analysis by the comparison portal Verivox compared the electricity costs in 126 countries with purchasing power-adjusted data from the energy service Global Petrol Prices.
Germany landed in 16th place.
According to the comparison, the Federal Republic of Germany was the country with the most expensive electricity among the G20 countries - by a large margin.
In Turkey and Italy, which followed in second and third place, electricity prices were around ten cents lower 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.
jok / Reuters