The electricity price brake is intended to relieve consumers financially, but the notifications are missing.
Not everyone knows how much they are currently paying for electricity.
Munich – The electricity price brake is intended to relieve consumers in Germany when it comes to energy costs.
Since the start of the Ukraine war more than a year ago, the costs of electricity and gas in Germany have increased many times over.
Federal subsidy | energy price brake |
price brakes | Electricity price brake and gas price brake |
Electricity prices for private | 80% capped at 40 cents |
Electricity prices for large companies | 70 percent capped at 13 cents |
In order not to plunge all citizens into almost unaffordable expenses, the federal government introduced the electricity price brake.
For this reason, customers should receive a letter from their electricity supplier by March 1st informing them of the change.
But that didn't work for many consumers.
Chaos in the notifications is currently causing problems.
This is how the electricity price brake affects consumers: Electricity costs are still unclear
At the start of the energy price brakes, customers should have been informed by their electricity suppliers as early as February how much they will have to pay for their electricity in future.
However, many households have still not been informed and therefore do not know the amount of their deductions.
This was announced by the Berlin consumer center at the beginning of March.
The federal government's electricity price brake stipulates that consumers only pay the full market price for electricity for 20 percent of their previous year's consumption.
The remaining 80 percent of their electricity consumption is capped at a maximum of 40 cents per kilowatt hour.
This regulation applies to private individuals and small companies that do not consume more than 30,000 kilowatt hours per year.
The price brake is intended to keep household electricity bills within limits.
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Many customers are still missing the notification.
They have no idea how much they pay for electricity.
(merkur.de assembly)
© Michael Gstettenbauer/Imago & Imago
For larger companies with an annual consumption of more than 30,000 kilowatt hours, a price cap of 13 cents applies to 70 percent of their consumption.
The rest must also be paid according to the market price of the electricity provider.
No notifications from the supplier about the electricity price brake: Customers do not know their electricity costs
The problem that many customers have: they have no idea how much they are currently paying for electricity.
Many suppliers have not managed to inform customers in good time about the price changes of the electricity price brake.
This is also accompanied by a reduction in the excessive deductions for electricity and gas.
This is unfavorable for customers.
They can't compare and look for better deals and possibly switch to a cheaper provider if they don't know their current prices.
Actually, the decisions should come in February.
Consumer advocates assume that it may take until May.
The electricity price brake applied from March 1, retrospectively to January 1, 2023.
The reason for the delay is the changed software systems at the municipal and municipal utilities, which first have to calculate the new costs for their consumers.
This is said to have led to many technical complications.
"We have taken on a sovereign task, relieving people, and that must remain unique," says Kerstin Andreae, head of the Federal Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW), to
Focus.de
.
It is the task of the federal government to ensure that people are relieved.
Currently, however, this is done via the electricity suppliers, who pass the lower prices on to their customers.
List of rubrics: © Michael Gstettenbauer/Imago & Imago
