As of 1 May, Stadtwerke Gießen is increasing the electricity price in the basic supply by just over two per cent. SWG company spokeswoman Ina Weller explains the reason: "On the one hand, purchase prices are rising on the wholesale markets for electricity. This means that our procurement costs are rising. Secondly, since 1 January 2012, a new statutory levy under the Electricity Grid Charges Ordinance has put all suppliers under pressure when setting prices."
In the summer, the German government amended paragraph 19 of the Electricity Grid Charges Ordinance (StromNEV), among other things. According to the new regulations, certain companies in the electricity-intensive industry can be completely exempted from the grid fees. The costs for this are distributed to all electricity customers via a levy.
Consumer associations criticise this one-sided relief for large companies, which has a negative impact on all other customers. The majority of suppliers have already raised prices or announced an increase for the coming months. "We cannot absorb the new levy in accordance with Section 19 StromNEV and the rising procurement costs in the long term," explains Ina Weller.
An average of 1.23 euros more per month
For customers of Stadtwerke Gießen with a basic supply, the price per kWh will therefore rise by 0.50 cents net to 24.07 cents gross. Household customers with an average annual consumption of 2,500 kWh will therefore pay €666.65 per year, €14.75 more than before. This corresponds to an increase of 2.26 per cent. This means that SWG remains well below the mark of around 3.5 per cent that the price comparison portal Verivox indicated as the average price increase for German suppliers at the end of January.
Relief from the beginning of January to the end of April
Many German electricity suppliers already raised their prices on 1 January or 1 February due to the new StromNEV levy. As they were required by law to notify their customers of this in mid-November or mid-December, they used the forecasts for the new levy at the time as a basis: around 0.6 cents per kWh. However, the final amount was only 0.151 cents per kWh. The result: some supply companies set their electricity prices too high. "To avoid imposing unnecessary costs on our customers, we waited as long as possible. This is because there was no clear basis for calculation until the beginning of 2012," explains Ina Weller. "We are therefore bearing the higher costs incurred as a result of the new levy ourselves until the end of April and easing the burden on customers for as long as possible. We wanted to avoid making a hasty decision. The current situation shows that we were exactly right with our assessment in the interests of consumers."
14.03.2012