Up to 110 percent more: Drastic tariff increases by the public utility company - consumer advocates with massive accusations

Created: 11/24/2022, 3:55 p.m

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

At the turn of the year, numerous energy suppliers increase their electricity prices, some of them drastically.

Consumer advocates and a municipal utility boss see this as calculus – at the expense of the taxpayer.

Munich – Millions of households will have to reckon with sharp price increases for electricity and gas at the beginning of next year.

The comparison portal Verivox said in November that the regional basic suppliers had already announced 137 electricity price increases and 167 gas price increases at the turn of the year - electricity is on average 61 percent more expensive, gas by 54 percent.

This means additional costs of several hundred euros, which even the electricity price brake cannot fully absorb.

Electricity prices: Tariff increases of 110 percent in Munich and Leipzig

The Check24 portal counted 194 increases in electricity prices, affecting 4.2 million households.

The average increase is 61.8 percent.

With a consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours, the additional costs correspond to 975 euros compared to September 30 of this year.

It will be expensive, especially for customers of the public utility company.

Because some of these will increase their tariffs by more than one hundred percent in the coming year: while Rheinenergie from Cologne is increasing the electricity price by 77 percent, customers in Leipzig and Munich are hitting the basic supply tariffs particularly hard: both are increasing prices by a whopping 110 percent - in From January, one kilowatt hour of electricity will cost Munich 61.89 cents and Leipzig 52.12 cents, according to the

.

Stadtwerke boss: prices up to 45 cents per kilowatt hour "plausible".

These dramatic surcharges are partially intercepted by the electricity price brake - the cap takes effect from a price of 40 cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of previous consumption.

But consumers will still have to reckon with additional costs.

However, doubts are growing as to whether these drastic increases are really justified despite the energy crisis – including among electricity providers.

Steffen Arta, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Dreieich, criticizes the fact that some suppliers have raised electricity prices too much, to the detriment of taxpayers.

Because: These overpriced tariffs would ultimately be financed with state funds, Arta told the

.

The electricity prices rise at the turn of the year for many consumers - despite the electricity price cap.

(symbol image) © McPHOTO/B.

Leitner/Imago

He therefore wrote a letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and other politicians.

The letter is available from the news portal 

.

In it he welcomes the capping of energy prices, but he also warns: "I am seriously concerned about the planned structure of the energy price brakes in connection with the pricing policy of individual utilities, which cannot be politically desired in the form discussed."

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In his eyes, electricity prices of up to 45 cents per kilowatt hour are “plausible”.

"But some municipal utilities are already well over it," says Arta of the

Stadtwerke Dreieich itself is also increasing the prices at the turn of the year – but to a very moderate 37.50 cents per kilowatt hour in comparison. 

Price increases for electricity: Consumer advocates fear deadweight effects

But why are the prices of other municipal utilities and basic suppliers so much higher?

"The argument of the providers with very high basic supply prices is that they had to procure their energy quantities on the market at very short notice," says the managing director of the magazine.

This strategy must then have been shown in the past.

The basic suppliers should therefore have been comparatively cheaper when the market prices were low.

"Here, however, the argument was always that you stock up on long-term supplies and therefore the basic supplier can never be the cheapest provider on the market," criticizes Arta in the

Consumer advocates are also alarmed.

"At the moment there is such a large price range among the basic suppliers as we have never seen before," says Christina Wallraf from the NRW consumer center to the magazine.

These prices cannot be explained – “that raises questions”.

Consumer advocates therefore fear deadweight effects: "One or the other provider now sees a good opportunity to increase prices without customers running away from them, because they are reimbursed the full price for 80 percent anyway," warns consumer advocate Wallraf in the

.

The problem: Proving this fear will be a lengthy and difficult process - and would then be the task of the antitrust authorities.