Municipal utilities will increase electricity prices from January: what consumers can do
Created: 11/25/2022, 5:59 p.m
By: Jason Blaschke
More and more electricity providers are turning the price screw and are announcing higher electricity prices from 2023.
Read here what you can do if you are affected.
Stuttgart – Food, fuel, heating oil, gas and from January 1, 2023 also electricity – the consumer prices for almost all everyday products continue to increase enormously as a result of the energy and price crisis.
This is also evidenced by the inflation rate of currently 10.4 percent in Germany, which according to statisticians is primarily due to the further increase in energy costs.
And it comes as no surprise to many that, after oil and gas, electricity will soon also become more expensive.
Electricity prices will increase from January: around 6 million households will be affected
Several weeks ago, experts predicted that the price of electricity in Germany would increase enormously.
Research by CHECK24
shows that this will become reality from January 2023
.
417 basic suppliers have announced that they will adjust their prices from January 1, 2023 - this will affect around 6.0 million households in Germany, reports the comparison portal.
The increases in electricity tariffs average 62.4 percent compared to September 30, 2022.
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According to calculations by CHECK24, the percentage additional costs correspond to an average of around 986 euros with a consumption of 5,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.
This also affects consumers in Baden-Württemberg.
Several municipal utilities in the south-west are increasing electricity prices enormously – in some cases the customers affected are faced with additional costs of more than 4,000 euros.
This raises the question: do electricity customers have to accept such massive price adjustments?
Year | Electricity price per kWh |
2018 | 27.82 cents |
2019 | 29.74 cents |
2020 | 29.36 cents |
2021 | 30.73 cents |
2022 | 39.73 cents |
Source: Verivox
Electricity prices 2023: Are new prices legal?
Pay attention to these three points
Yes, is the answer, if the legal framework is right and there is no breach of contract.
No is the correct answer if the two conditions just mentioned are not met.
Irrespective of this, affected electricity customers have a special right of termination if the provider adjusts the prices.
If in doubt, a change can be worthwhile.
But first you should take a close look at the letter from the supplier and pay attention to the following points:
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Is there a price guarantee in the contract?
If so, a price adjustment before the deadline is not allowed.
Has your electricity provider calculated the monthly payments correctly?
Did the letter arrive on time and are the price adjustments clearly explained?
When it comes to payments on account, it is important to know that these always increase if the price per kWh also increases.
According to reports from the Berliner Morgenpost
, what
is not allowed is for the electricity provider to adjust the advance payments in addition to the price per kWh.
If anything is unclear, affected customers should object to the price adjustment and, if necessary, seek legal advice or seek advice from a consumer advice center.
Municipal utilities attract electricity prices: What the consumer advice centers recommend
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations has made a sample letter for objecting to electricity price adjustments available to download free of charge.
If there are no complaints and the price adjustment is legal, the electricity customers affected can still react.
The consumer advice centers recommend contacting the provider and negotiating the new electricity price again.
It can help if you find out about other electricity tariffs from other providers online in advance.
If you find a cheaper one, that can be a good basis for negotiation.
However, it is also true that many providers have had to adjust their electricity prices during the energy crisis and that switching providers is therefore no guarantee of a cheaper tariff.
Some electricity suppliers have also simply stopped supplying or are no longer accepting new customers.
