Peißenberger municipal utilities: Electricity and gas are becoming significantly more expensive - "This is just the beginning"

Created: 11/26/2022, 2:00 p.m

By: Bernhard Jepsen

The energy crisis does not stop at the Peissenberger municipal utilities: the municipal company is forced to raise its electricity tariffs.

© IMAGO/Christian Ohde

The energy crisis does not stop at the Peissenberger municipal utilities: the municipal company is forced to raise its electricity tariffs – by an average of around 50 percent.

Gas customers will be hit even harder.

Peißenberg – Electricity and gas customers of the Peißenberg municipal utilities received unwelcome mail at the end of last week.

The municipal company (KU) sent 6,400 letters.

The message: As of January 1, 2023, electricity prices in all tariff segments (including basic supply and special tariffs) will increase by an average of 50 percent.

Electricity and gas are becoming significantly more expensive: "We're not filling our pockets"

Gas customers will have to dig even deeper into their pockets in the future: existing customers will pay a gross consumption price of 20.20 cents per kilowatt hour for up to 50,000 kilowatt hours per year with the same basic fee of 11.68 euros.

So far, only 8.05 cents have been due.

The reasons for the "price adjustments", as the new municipal works manager, Stefan Ziegler, describes the tariff increases, are obvious: prices on the Leipzig electricity exchange are shooting through the roof more and more.

Coupled with state taxes and network charges, this drives up the procurement costs for municipal utilities – as well as for the entire industry.

As Ziegler explains, there is no escaping the trend: "We don't drive the wrong way at the plants," emphasizes the KU boss: "We don't fill our pockets, the market brings the hub."

Stefan Ziegler, municipal utility manager, explains the rising electricity and gas prices from January 1, 2023. © ruder/a.

And Ziegler's forecasts don't look particularly optimistic: "This is just the beginning of a development and not just a phase.

We will have to adjust to a much higher level.”

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Electricity and gas are becoming significantly more expensive: price guarantees cannot be given

Ziegler therefore considers the transparent communication of the price development to be extremely important: "In the previous calculations, a large part referred to a time when the world was still in order." The price spiral on the energy market did not just begin with the Ukraine war .

The pandemic and inflation had already put low-cost providers in distress or insolvency.

The municipal utilities were a catchment area for the electricity customers who had been terminated by the low-cost providers - with the result that electricity had to be bought on the exchange.

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Where are the municipal utilities in the competition?

The price offer would continue to provide

compared to the competition, according to the Peißenberg municipal works.

While some other market participants are currently not taking on any new customers, the municipal company is still open to newcomers.

With an annual consumption of 3500 kilowatt hours (kWh)

a total of 1992 euros according to the new price list from the turn of the year (0.5280 euros per kWh and 144 euros annual fee).

In comparison, municipal competitors from the immediate and wider region are at 2390 euros and 3010.63 euros respectively.

Yup

The additional costs, explains KU employee Philipp Reichhart, are ultimately borne by the general public.

Reichhart's colleague Manuel Schumnik adds that not a single new customer was rejected in 2022: "This shows the stability of our municipal company.

We can be proud of that.” The aim of the works is to offer “fair and best possible prices for customers”.

With the new calculation, the plants are still the cheapest compared to regional competitors.

According to Stefan Ziegler, the municipal utilities will “try to ensure stable pricing”.

But the KU board cannot promise anything: "Even if we don't do any risky business and don't have an administrative headache, I can't give a price guarantee."

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Electricity and gas are becoming significantly more expensive: To save money, analyze energy consumption

In the coming months, conscientious price monitoring will be necessary: ​​"Every month we have to pay very close attention to where we stand." The plants also recommend customers to carry out a comprehensive analysis - with regard to their energy consumption: "Save a lot more money than in in this area, you can't," states Manuel Schumnik.

And then there is another lever: The KU employees have found that many customers are still in the higher-priced basic service.

"We can only recommend everyone to take out a special tariff," says Reichhart.

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