Just in time for the start of the heating season - from 1 October 2009 - natural gas and district heating customers of Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG) will benefit from falling prices. For 26,500 gas customers and 6,300 heating customers, this is already the second price reduction this year after April.
The price reduction is SWG's response to the low oil price level in the spring and the positive development on the natural gas procurement markets, announced SWG CEO Manfred Siekmann. "Due to the positive development, we are able to relieve our gas and heating customers with a reduction, especially at the beginning of the heating-intensive months," said Siekmann.
New prices
In the area of gas supply, both the labour prices in the basic and replacement supply as well as the labour prices of the Thermo supply contract will fall by 0.83 cents per kilowatt hour including all taxes. The basic prices remain constant. For an average customer with an annual consumption of 2,500 kWh who only uses natural gas for cooking, for example, this means a price reduction of 8.91 %. A heating gas customer who consumes 26,300 kWh a year will pay €218.29 a year or 13.08% less from October.
District heating prices will also fall as of 1 October 2009, with the gross energy price dropping by 1.05 Ct/kWh. The annual performance price, which is payable per kilowatt of output, remains unchanged. The capacity price, payable per installed kW of capacity, will increase minimally by EUR 0.26/year. As a result, customers in a flat supplied with district heating with an average consumption of 7,400 kWh will pay EUR 76.66 less gross per year in future, which corresponds to a reduction of 10.64%. For customers with an annual consumption of 22,500 kWh (equivalent to the consumption of a detached house), the bill will fall by EUR 232.35 gross per year or 11.52%.
Gas customers can report meter readings
Gas and heating customers will be contacted by the municipal utilities in the next few days and informed about the new prices, which will come into effect on 1 October. Gas customers will also receive a personalised meter reading card in the post. All gas customers who wish to read their meter by the deadline of 30 September 2009 can do so using the card and return it to Stadtwerke by 15 October. Gas customers can also inform SWG of their meter reading on the Internet at www.stadtwerke-giessen.de. District heating customers do not need to worry about anything - most district heating meters are read remotely, the readings of the other meters are calculated.
SWG helps customers save energy
Stadtwerke supports its customers in saving energy. Together with the energy experts from the infoZentrum, SWG customers can find out what savings can be made in their household. The infoCentre on Marktplatz is open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm and on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm. More information about saving energy can also be found on the Internet at www.stadtwerke-giessen.de.