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Photo: DPA
Consumers in Germany have to be prepared for rising electricity prices. "The procurement costs that energy suppliers have to pay for electricity have risen significantly in recent months," warns the head of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), Kerstin Andreae. In the case of long-term deliveries, wholesale prices have doubled since the beginning of the year, and electricity purchased at short notice has even become three times as expensive. The increased procurement costs have a delay in affecting the end customer price for consumers.
The price for CO2 certificates has also more than doubled in the past 24 months.
In addition, the high prices in gas wholesaling also influenced the price of electricity, since generation in gas-fired power plants is becoming more expensive.
"These effects cannot currently be compensated for by the falling costs of renewable energies," said Andreae.
50 percent state share of the electricity bill
According to the comparison portal Verivox, the price for household electricity has already climbed to a record high.
A kilowatt hour of electricity currently costs an average of 30.54 cents - more than ever before.
A year ago the cost was 28.65 cents.
In the past 12 months, electricity has thus increased in price by 6.6 percent.
The Check24 portal reports that eight basic suppliers have already increased their electricity prices or announced increases.
On average, the price increases amounted to 3.7 percent.
For a model household with a consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours, this means additional costs of an average of 63 euros per year.
According to the industry association BDEW, the main price driver is not the more expensive generation.
"For every 100 euros in the electricity bill, more than 50 euros are state-caused," said Andreae.
Between 2010 and 2020, the burden on electricity customers from taxes, levies and surcharges increased by around 70 percent.
"This is not only an enormous burden for consumers, but also hinders the competitiveness of the business location and inhibits environmentally friendly electricity-based applications such as electromobility or hydrogen."
Price increases at the turn of the year
Holger Lösch, Deputy General Manager of the Federation of German Industries, said the current soaring electricity prices are causing massive damage to the industry.
The next federal government must tackle the high electricity prices as one of its first tasks.
The rising price of electricity is increasingly becoming a nuisance for consumers.
According to a survey for Verivox, three quarters of Germans are calling for the next federal government to take more stringent measures against the rise in prices.
One in three (31 percent) would even stick to nuclear power - that is 11 percentage points more than three years ago.
However, the respondents do not have great hope of an end to the price increase: 70 percent do not assume that taxes and levies on electricity will fall.
Experts expect a wave of price increases.
»Most basic providers change their prices at the turn of the year.
We therefore assume that more electricity providers will increase their prices in the coming months, ”said Thorsten Storck from Verivox.
How much the utilities will add is not yet exactly foreseeable.
»Because of the rise in electricity prices on the exchange, a price increase for household electricity of three cents per kilowatt hour would be expected in the coming year.
Renewable energies are likely to cut the increase in half - to around 1.5 cents, ”suspects Philipp Litz from the Agora Energiewende think tank.
The EEG surcharge, which is used to finance the promotion of green electricity systems, should not be a price driver in the coming year.
So that the levy financed by electricity customers does not increase drastically, the federal government is stabilizing it for 2021 and 2022 with billions of euros from the budget.
As a result, the surcharge has been limited to 6.5 cents this year, and next year it is expected to drop to 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
BDEW boss Andreae calls for the surcharge to be completely eliminated in order to relieve consumers and the economy.
In their election manifestos all major parties promise to abolish or reduce the EEG surcharge.
More speed in the expansion of renewable energies?
So far this year the federal government has paid 8.1 billion euros into the EEG fund.
In the coming year, he could get away with it cheaper because of the high price of electricity on the exchange.
"With rising electricity prices on the exchange, the wind and solar plant operators generate higher income, which leads to a falling EEG levy," says Agora expert Litz, explaining the mechanism.
Litz emphasized that the best way to counter rising electricity prices is to rapidly expand renewable energies.
A new federal government would have to triple the expansion rates for wind power and photovoltaics in the first 100 days.
"This is central to achieving the climate targets and helps to lower the price of electricity."
beb / dpa