Gas crisis: Kölner RheinEnergie increases gas prices by 133 percent

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Should draw anxious looks in winter: a gas meter (here in Siegen)

Photo: Rene Traut / IMAGO

What experts have been warning about for weeks and months is now happening: Energy suppliers are beginning to prepare their customers for significantly higher gas prices from autumn.

One example is the Cologne company RheinEnergie – a group with more than two million customers.

In any case, consumers who purchase their gas from RheinEnergie now have some clarity as to how expensive the fuel will soon be for them: the group has announced that it will drastically increase the price per kilowatt hour of gas.

It climbs from 7.87 cents to 18.30 cents.

That's an increase of 10.43 cents per kilowatt hour, or 133 percent.

The company blames the increased procurement costs for natural gas on the commodity markets for the step.

A press release states that RheinEnergie's procurement costs have increased by 450 percent within a year.

The new gas allocation has not yet been taken into account

The trigger for the price increase is the shortage of gas supplies through Russia.

This started last fall.

In the meantime, however, Gazprom has drastically restricted deliveries to Europe - apparently in response to the economic sanctions imposed by the EU for the attack on Ukraine.

Calculated over the year, many households are now threatened with significantly higher burdens.

According to RheinEnergie, the price increases are tantamount to doubling the overall costs that an average household has to bear for gas.

With a consumption of 10,000 kilowatt hours per year (which roughly corresponds to a condominium), the annual costs would rise from the current 960 euros to 2002 euros.

In a larger apartment or a single-family house (15,000 kilowatt hours), the increase is higher: from 1353 euros to 2918 euros).

However, the actual burden for many gas customers will be significantly higher.

The new gas levy, with which the federal government wants gas consumers to participate in the rescue of the gas supplier Uniper, is not yet included in the costs.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had announced that the surcharge would amount to between 1.5 and 5 cents per kilowatt hour.

In the case of a four-person household, this would correspond to an additional charge of up to 1000 euros.

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