Electricity prices rise faster

The electricity bill is higher for most households this year. In recent months, the price increase has even accelerated, market observers report. However, there is good news for consumers at another cost point.

Essen (dpa) - There are opposing developments in energy costs for households in Germany. While the rise in electricity prices has accelerated, heating has become cheaper.

For electricity, a household with an annual consumption of 3500 kilowatt hours and a basic service contract has to pay an average of 5.9 percent more than last year, as the database analyst Enet calculated. For such a model household, this means a surcharge of 57 euros a year.

The later the new prices came into effect this year, the higher the premium was, on average, according to the market report. While the increases at the beginning of the year averaged 5.3 percent, the increase in the new prices that came into force on May 1 was 13.3 percent. There have been price increases in around three quarters of the network areas. Electricity in primary care is usually particularly expensive. According to figures from the Federal Network Agency, more than a quarter of households recently had such a standard tariff.

Between October 2019 and April 2020, the mild winter caused the nationwide average heating requirement to fall by 2.5 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. The cost of gas heating was very different from region to region, the Internet comparison portal Verivox reported. The highest average gas costs were due in the past heating season in Thuringia. Heating a free-standing single-family house with 20,000 kilowatt hours cost around 1103 euros here. The costs in Saxony-Anhalt (EUR 1058), Saxony (EUR 1057) and Saarland (EUR 1048) were similarly high.

Gas costs were cheaper in the two largest German cities: in Berlin they were 780 euros, in Hamburg 821 euros. In Schleswig-Holstein (917 euros) and Lower Saxony (939 euros), heating was also relatively cheap. "Annual gas costs for consumers depend on two factors: the regional weather during the heating season and the current gas tariff," said Valerian Vogel, energy expert at Verivox.

Gas is the most common heating energy in Germany. Around 49 percent of the apartments are heated with gas, and around 30 percent of the houses have oil heating. According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, heating costs for oil fell by 17 percent.

In the second half of the year, the price of electricity could fall due to the planned reduction in VAT for all households. According to calculations by the comparison portals Verivox and Check24, a family has to pay 15 to 20 euros less. From July 1 to December 31, 2020, the VAT rate is to be reduced from 19 percent to 16 percent.

How Germany heats up - BDEW analysis