The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Energy prices explode: expert with gloomy prognosis - "Will be terribly expensive for many"

2022-02-18T04:32:04.173Z


Energy prices explode: expert with gloomy prognosis - "Will be terribly expensive for many" Created: 02/18/2022, 05:20 By: Andreas Steppan Electricity, gas, oil: Energy prices have risen exorbitantly. This hits many consumers hard. Despite skyrocketing procurement prices, the Tölzer Stadtwerke are keeping electricity prices stable – for now. Bad Tölz – Consumers are not only noticing it at the


Energy prices explode: expert with gloomy prognosis - "Will be terribly expensive for many"

Created: 02/18/2022, 05:20

By: Andreas Steppan

Electricity, gas, oil: Energy prices have risen exorbitantly.

This hits many consumers hard.

Despite skyrocketing procurement prices, the Tölzer Stadtwerke are keeping electricity prices stable – for now.

Bad Tölz

– Consumers are not only noticing it at the petrol pump, but in some cases even now in their electricity, gas and oil bills: Energy prices have risen significantly.

The rude awakening, according to the assessment of Tölz Stadtwerke boss Walter Huber, could come for many at the end of 2022, when the price increases will affect the utility bills for electricity, gas and oil with a time lag and high additional payments will be due.

"It's going to be terrifying for a lot of people," he says.

Stadtwerke customers, on the other hand, could “at least look reasonably calmly into the near future”.

Because here the prices remain largely stable, at least for this year.

Energy prices have risen significantly - "Cheap providers pass risks on to us"

According to Huber, this is due to the long-term purchasing policy of the public utility company in a network of cooperation partners.

Recently, the purchase prices for electricity have "gone crazy high," says Huber.

Within a few months, the subscription prices had increased eightfold.

"Currently they are still four times the previous level."

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.

Thanks to long-term procurement contracts, however, the public utilities are currently still benefiting from the "good, old purchase prices", according to Huber.

Therefore, the municipal company increased its prices at the turn of the year only minimally.

Stadtwerke customers in the Bad Tölz area currently pay 29.80 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) and a basic price of 150 euros per year.

For a household with an electricity consumption of 3000 kWh, this results in a total of 1044 euros per year.

Electricity prices "went up crazy" - Stadtwerke accept customers from low-cost providers

The situation was different recently with so-called low-cost providers.

Among other things, the "energy discounter" Stromio hit the headlines, which had initially offered customers low tariffs, but then canceled their contracts without further ado when the procurement costs on the stock exchange rose exorbitantly.

This also had an impact on the Tölzer Stadtwerke.

You are the provider with the most customers in Bad Tölz - and thus officially the "basic supplier" who has to take homeless households as electricity customers, so to speak.

This then happens in the basic supplier tariff, which is a little more expensive for the customer (basic price: 157.55 euros, energy price: 32.79 cents/kWh, at 3000 euros kWh consumption: 1141 euros/year).

Due to the increased number of customers, municipal utilities have to buy electricity at high cost

According to Huber, "a few hundred" customers fell back on the Tölzer Stadtwerke in this way.

After giving two weeks' notice, some reoriented themselves, others stayed.

However, the public utilities can only be happy about the unexpected increase in customers to a limited extent.

"Because we didn't factor in the purchase of electricity for these customers and now have to buy more electricity for them," explains Huber.

This could become an economic burden for the public utility company.

"Moderate" price increases are therefore possible over the course of the year, says sales manager Michael Betzl.

He criticizes: "The cheap electricity providers, on the other hand, pass on their economic risks to the municipal utilities."

"17er" is currently not accepting any new customers

The provider "17er Oberlandenergie" - a merger of the Murnau municipal utilities and the Bad Tölz, Geretsried, Penzberg and Wolfratshausen municipal utilities as well as 23 municipalities in the Oberland - is currently no longer accepting any new electricity customers.

"Here we have actually suspended trading," explains Walter Huber, who is Chairman of the Supervisory Board at "17er Oberlandenergie".

Previously, the company had temporarily set a "dissuasive" electricity price: 77 cents per kilowatt hour.

"That's the price that we should actually take at the current purchase prices," says Huber.

But even under these conditions, three or four new customers would have concluded a contract – which the provider had not planned at all.

High energy prices in Bavaria: Stadtwerke - "We want to keep price stability this year"

Huber says for Stadtwerke Tölz: "We want to keep prices stable for this year." If the situation on the electricity exchange next autumn is as tense as it was last, "then it will affect us too".

A price increase for the end customer could then become necessary in 2023.

However, Huber limits: An increased price of electricity never fully impacts on consumer prices.

More than half of this consists of taxes, duties and levies.

And they remain the same, the EEG levy is even reduced.

The latter relief is also "just a drop in the ocean", according to Huber.

Skyrocketing prices: similar situation with gas

As far as the price of gas is concerned, the situation is similar to that of electricity: the public utility company “only increased the price very slightly” at the beginning of the year and, according to the managing director, can keep it stable for the time being thanks to a long-term purchasing policy.

For the future, however, "I don't trust myself to make any forecasts," says Huber - especially since political uncertainties are involved here: specifically the current Ukraine conflict and the possible effects on gas supplies in Germany.

(Andreas Steppan and Andrea Denz)

More current news from the region around Bad Tölz can be found here.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-02-18

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-25T10:16:42.126Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.