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E.on headquarters in Essen
Photo: Thilo Schmuelgen / REUTERS
The energy company E.on is taking action because of the gas price explosion and is stopping new business with private customers for the time being.
"Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer you any natural gas products," the supplier currently reports on its website if you want to find out more about tariffs there.
Existing customers are not affected, said the group.
"We have only been revising our new customer products for a few days now, because we have to take into account the sharp rise in procurement costs in our pricing," said a spokesman.
Deutsche Energiepool had already gone further in September and also terminated gas supply contracts for many existing customers.
E.on stepped in as the responsible basic supplier and, according to its own information, continues to do so.
In the past few months, the wholesale prices for gas have climbed to record highs internationally.
Compared to spring 2020, they were 1500 percent higher in September.
There are many reasons for this: The long winter 2020/2021 and the resulting rather empty gas storage facilities, maintenance work on the systems, declining production in Europe, the global economic boom after the corona crisis and thus a sharp rise in demand - and last but not least, Russia's cautious delivery policy.
This is also felt by consumers in Germany: According to the comparison portal Verivox, the gas costs for a household with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours averaged 1,402 euros per year in October 2021 - an increase of around 28 percent within one year.
The consequences for consumers in other European countries are even more drastic.
In Great Britain, for example, the tariffs have increased by around 250 percent since the beginning of the year, and gas prices for private customers have also risen sharply in Spain.
fdi / dpa