Gas levy: Up to 576 euros more per month – it will be that much more expensive for consumers

Created: 08/16/2022, 12:21 p.m

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

The amount of the gas surcharge has been fixed since Monday.

What that means for consumers in concrete terms, what extra costs singles, couples and families have to be prepared for.

Berlin – It's been official since Monday: The gas surcharge will amount to 2.419 cents per kilowatt hour.

From October, all gas customers will have to pay for this – private households as well as companies.

Many people are affected because around half of all apartments in Germany are heated with gas.

Gas surcharge: With or without VAT?

It is not yet clear, however, whether there will be an additional VAT on the gas surcharge.

The federal government actually rejects this, but it may be that it has no other option under EU law.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has therefore asked for an exception at EU level.

In the event that no exception is made, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has announced "compensation mechanisms".

The state gas levy will make the economic situation of tense private households even worse.

"Anyone who is already in economic difficulties because of high inflation and increased energy prices will soon have a particularly difficult time," said the managing director of the federal debt counseling group, Ines Moers, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

The levy is intended to compensate for the increased procurement costs of major importers in order to protect them from bankruptcy and the German energy system from collapsing.

Gas levy with VAT: Almost 600 euros more for families

The comparison portal Check24 has calculated which cost increases consumers now have to adjust to.

How high they are depends, among other things, on whether the EU Commission agrees to Lindner's proposal to suspend VAT in the gas levy or not.

A look at the table shows how much a possible abolition of VAT of 19 percent would relieve private households.

According to Check24, a model household with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) currently has to pay a record price of 3,415 euros even without a surcharge.

Including the levy, the value would rise to an average of 3,991 euros (at a price of 20 cents per kWh).

That is 207 percent more than in the same period last year: in July 2021, the same household only had to shell out 1,301 euros.

According to Check24, a single household would now have to pay an average of 1,107 euros including the allocation.

also read

Pension: These cohorts are allowed to retire before the age of 67

Energy price flat rate: How pensioners get the 300 euros

Steffen Suttner, Managing Director of Energy at Check24, points out that it remains unclear whether consumers with a price guarantee are affected: "Some contracts explicitly exclude state levies." At the latest after the contract expires, it will also be significantly more expensive for these gas customers.

Spahn: "Gas surcharge is becoming a social issue"

The deputy chairman of the Union faction, Jens Spahn (CDU), called the gas surcharge "cynical" in view of the threatening additional financial burden, since consumers would also have to pay VAT on the surcharge.

“For an average household, this tax amounts to almost another 100 euros in additional costs.

The state earns additional money from its own compulsory contribution," Spahn told

.

The gas surcharge will become a “real social issue”.

The traffic light coalition promises to remedy the situation.

However, the shape of a new relief package is still controversial in the red-green-yellow federal government.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) assured on Twitter on Monday: "We will not leave anyone alone with the higher costs." Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann had previously said: "If the levy is due on October 1 of this year, there will be further relief for the Citizens of this country must be prepared.” However, it is still unclear what these aid measures will look like in concrete terms.