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Heating is getting more expensive
Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
If you heat with gas, you have to be prepared for a significantly higher bill in the next year.
A study by the comparison portal Verivox predicts that considerable price increases could affect households.
According to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany, gas will be more than 20 percent more expensive, while electricity will have surcharges of around seven percent.
In the case of gas, the developments on the global energy markets are noticeable, it said.
Added to this is the CO2 price introduced this year, which is currently 25 euros per ton and will rise to 30 euros in 2022.
According to Verivox, the cost of a single-family home will rise by a nationwide average of 329 euros next year.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg are ahead with increases of more than a third.
But also in Lower Saxony (24 percent) and Schleswig-Holstein (25 percent) the costs would rise.
Only in Bremen and Berlin will gas be only moderately more expensive.
According to surveys by Verivox experts, 236 of around 900 providers increased their electricity prices at the turn of the year.
On average, this would mean an increase of 97 euros in 2022 for a standard household.
However, there are strong regional differences: While prices in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia rose particularly sharply, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania recorded falling prices.
The bottom line is that German electricity prices would "probably remain the highest in the world in the coming year", Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck told the RND.
Price increase like in the oil crisis
Most recently, the prices for energy imports had risen as sharply as they had last in the 1980 oil crisis. Due to the high oil and gas prices, import prices rose by 21.7 percent in October compared to the same month last year, the Federal Statistical Office announced.
The sharp rise in import prices is primarily due to the rapidly increasing costs of energy: Importing these prices rose by 141.0 percent compared to October 2020. The price premium for natural gas was particularly high at 193.9 percent, and for crude oil it is an increase of 105.9 percent.
The import prices for imported hard coal rose by 213.2 percent.
The reason for the energy crisis is an imbalance between supply and demand: Because the economy has largely recovered since the beginning of the corona crisis and production has increased again, the demand for energy is increasing.
The offer doesn't keep up with that.
In the meantime, Russia had also brought less gas to Germany than was demanded.
Consumer advocates call for the expansion of renewable energies
In view of the strong fluctuations in energy prices, consumer advocates have called for greater gas reserves and relief for private households.
"For gas storage facilities there needs to be a minimum fill level at the beginning of winter," said the board of directors of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, Klaus Müller.
This level must be made transparent and monitored.
If the prices for oil and gas continue to rise, households with low incomes in particular will have to be financially supported and protected from gas locks in winter, continued Müller.
"For example, housing benefits, Hartz IV and basic old-age security must be increased in line with the rise in energy prices." Industry exemptions would have to be canceled or financed through taxation.
According to Müller, there is also a need for greater funding for energy-efficient building renovation in the coming years.
"Here, the buildings with the worst energy efficiency should be renovated first, many households with low incomes live here." In the medium term, politicians must reduce the import dependency of oil and gas - above all through the expansion of renewable energies.
These are significantly cheaper than fossil energy sources.
fww / AFP
