Electricity price endangers city budget: costs for Miesbach more than doubled

Like many other towns and communities, Miesbach took part in an electricity bundle tender.

The county seat is now facing multiplied costs.

District

- Actually, the city of Miesbach wanted to save costs - now the new budget is in danger.

Around 1,500 bodies in Bavaria - including the district town - have joined forces to buy electricity through the Bavarian Municipal Council.

However, the well-intentioned tender for the power bundle for the years 2023 to 2025 turned out to be a mistake: the company commissioned bought at a particularly expensive time.

Municipalities from the district that had looked for their own electricity provider pay significantly less than Miesbach.

But that was not foreseeable.

Mayor Gerhard Braunmiller says: "We received an offer for the bundle tender and are obliged to accept it." Despite the electricity price brake, the current electricity costs in the city would multiply by a factor of 2.5.

"This has a significant impact on the administrative budget."

Despite the electricity price brake: costs multiplied by a factor of 2.5

The new energy price per kilowatt hour is “very high” at 42.2 cents.

With surcharges and taxes, the city comes to "a good 60 cents per kilowatt hour".

The electricity price brake, with which the federal government wants to cap the price at 40 cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of the amount consumed - measured against the previous year's value - is still to be deducted.

"According to our information, this also applies to us," says Braunmiller.

Stefan Graf from the Bavarian Municipal Council also confirmed to our newspaper that he had fought for the municipalities to be included in the electricity price brake.

But: The full 61 cents are due for the remaining 20 percent of the annual consumption of around 2000 megawatt hours in Miesbach.

Without the electricity price brake, the costs for Miesbach would have more than tripled, so the costs remain 2.5 times those of the previous year.

The problem: For the city of Miesbach, it is questionable "to what extent we can get an administrative budget that can be approved," says Braunmiller.

Chamberlain Josef Schäffler is currently working on a draft – the first meetings are expected at the end of January.

However, the electricity costs would have to be priced in full in the administrative budget, the surplus of which in turn must ensure a sufficient allocation to the capital budget.

If that doesn't work, the budget wouldn't be approvable, says the head of the town hall.

Other communities benefit from suppliers from the region

"We are definitely thinking about energy saving measures." As reported, Miesbach wants to save heat, water and electricity and has implemented individual measures.

"Against the background that the costs are rising so massively, we will check it again and look at our large electrical consumers."

Braunmiller also wants to observe how other municipalities are now behaving.

Around 1,500 are affected throughout Bavaria, of which around 900, like Miesbach, have received an award.

The mayor says: "We see very little chance of getting out of the contract." A discussion with the Bavarian municipal council is still pending.

As an example, the approximately 61 cents in Miesbach are compared to two municipalities that did not take part in the tender.

Otterfing is supplied by the Holzkirchen municipal works for 19 cents net.

With taxes and fees, the price should not be more than 30 cents - similar to the Warngau municipality.

There, the municipality pays exactly 30.32 cents gross per kilowatt hour to the Tegernsee E-Werk.

According to employees from the town halls, both communities did not decide against participating in the bundle tender because they already had a premonition.

They simply wanted to supply their municipal properties regionally - which is now paying off properly.

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