Surprise at the Wiesn: Despite rising gas prices - one thing will not be more expensive this year

Created: 2022-08-09 04:49

By: Andreas Thieme

Hendl-Hammer: If there's an Oktoberfest this year, the delicacies will be significantly more expensive.

© Sammy Minkoff/picture alliance

Munich is gearing up for the Oktoberfest.

Insecure gas supply, expensive electricity - rising prices?

So far, this has hardly dampened the anticipation of hosts and Wiesn fans.

Munich – Finally, finally, finally: After a three-year break, the Oktoberfest is finally to take place again this year.

Six million guests from all over the world are expected at the largest folk festival - and they are usually very hungry.

Almost half a million chickens, even more bratwurst, 130 oxen and more than seven million liters of beer are statistically devoured at the Oktoberfest: The Wiesn is also an absolute best in terms of culinary delights.

Of course, this is also reflected in the energy consumption.

Almost three million kilowatt hours of electricity and around two million kilowatt hours of gas were consumed in 2018 - that's as much gas as 100 four-person households need in a whole year.

The 2019 figures were similar in the last Wiesn year before the pandemic.

But: The rising gas price will not make the Oktoberfest chicken more expensive.

“We stick to our prices.

The supply contracts are fixed,” says Christian Schottenhamel, second spokesman for the Wiesnwirte.

Oktoberfest in Munich: Rising gas prices do not make chicken more expensive

Innkeepers and showmen need not worry about the energy costs for the time being.

"In general, we can say that the current high price level at the Wiesn companies will not arrive this year because the amounts of energy for this have been procured in advance," says a spokesman for Stadtwerke München of the German Press Agency.

Gas prices will be slightly higher than at Oktoberfest 2019.

The gas surcharge should not come until October - but the festival ends on October 3rd.

For electricity, the prices for short-term events apply to the Wiesn.

Possible bottlenecks in the gas supply are already casting a shadow in many places.

Bathrooms are dimming the water temperature and turning off saunas, politicians are calling for energy saving, and warnings are ubiquitous that one might have to take cold showers in winter.

You sometimes hear critical tones in Munich when it comes to the Wiesn: you should save yourself, but the celebrations there are the same as always.

Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) compares the consumption at the Wiesn to the annual consumption of the whole of Germany.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, 1016 billion kilowatt hours of gas and 536 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed nationwide in 2021.

The numbers showed how little doing without the festival could help prevent a national energy emergency.

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