Rising prices: Stadtwerke have to terminate the electricity contract with the city

Created: 05/12/2022, 08:00

By: Ingrid Zeilinger

Electricity prices are rising.

© IMAGO

The Ukraine war has a direct impact on the city of Fürstenfeldbruck.

Because the prices are rising massively, the municipal utilities have terminated the electricity contract.

Now it has to be advertised again across Europe.

Fürstenfeldbruck – The electricity contract was last put out to tender throughout Europe in 2019.

At that time, the public utilities were awarded the contract.

The contract runs for the years 2020 to 2022 – with the option of automatically extending it three times by one year.

The contract contains an adjustment clause that reacts to changes in the market, explains Andreas Wohlmann, sales manager at Stadtwerke.

For the extension, the market price on the reference date on March 28 counts.

"The formula no longer fits due to the price explosion," explains Wohlmann.

"We would have to sell the electricity to the city more cheaply than we can procure it." And the municipal utilities are not allowed to do that from a purely legal perspective.

The Ukraine War

For this reason, the energy supplier decided not to exercise the option to extend.

Because even a contract extension should not have been made like this.

A price increase on the stock exchange has been observed since last August, caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the dispute over Nord Stream 2, explains Wohlmann.

But since the beginning of the war, costs have exploded again.

Mayor Erich Raff informed the Finance Committee about the termination of the contract.

This involves the supply of all municipal properties including schools, day-care centers and event forums.

Raff explained that the notice had to be given in order to meet deadlines. "Otherwise it would have caused a lot of damage." Now the city is looking for an office that will carry out the Europe-wide tender.

The result should be available at the next meeting.

The new contract would apply from January 2023.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular FFB newsletter.)

"Our goal is for the municipal utility to be awarded the contract again," says Wohlmann.

The city determines the criteria for future electricity suppliers.

One of them is that the energy supplier must have an office or a contact person on site who can be reached 24 hours a day, reports finance officer Klaus Wollenberg (FDP).

A call center alone is not enough.

Private customers not affected

The private customers of Stadtwerke are not affected by this story.

"We buy for the long term, so the prices are still dampened," says Wohlmann.

But in the next one to two years it will hit the ground running.

Then a price increase is inevitable for them too.

The municipal utilities are also closely monitoring the gas market.

Because the combined heat and power plants, which supply the indoor pool, among other things, are operated with gas.

The price increase has not yet had an effect.

The prices for the outdoor pool season, which starts tomorrow, Friday, are unchanged.

You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.