Attentive readers have already been able to follow the trend of rising heating oil prices in recent weeks. The fact that gas prices were also expected to rise nationwide was also already in the headlines. At the end of July, a survey by the German Press Agency (dpa) revealed a trend towards rising prices among Hessian utility companies. In this comparison, Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG) proved to be the cheapest gas supplier in Hesse.
"This will not change much," said Manfred Siekmann, CEO of SWG.
"Even with the new gas and heating prices, we won't need to shy away from comparison with the competition. Because our prices will continue to be competitive."
SWG is increasing its natural gas and district heating prices as of 1 October 2004.
Both the labour prices in the general gas supply tariff and the labour prices in the heating tariffs will rise by 0.30 cents gross. The basic price remains constant.
Anyone who heats with natural gas and has an annual consumption of 30,000 kWh will pay 7.50 euros more per month.
With this price increase of 7.23 per cent, SWG is still well below the planned national average increase. SWG is also adjusting its district heating prices. Here, the increase in labour prices per kilowatt hour amounts to 0.24 cents gross. The annual performance price per kilowatt of power provided will increase by 0.32 cents.
Customers with an average annual consumption of 16,000 kWh will pay 3.40 euros more per month in future.
The reason for the price adjustment is the rise in heating oil prices since spring. Despite the increasing doubts about the link between gas prices and oil prices, SWG still considers it appropriate to base prices on the oil price. This is because the price of natural gas is a market price. The most important competitor in most European countries is heating oil as the relevant "energy lead currency" because it can replace natural gas in many applications. Natural gas can therefore not decouple itself from developments on the primary energy markets as far as price development is concerned. An increase in the price of natural gas is also unavoidable if, as is currently the case, the price of heating oil rises.
The energy price level is currently relatively high. But the oil price link is not a one-way street upwards: Consumers also benefit from lower gas prices when oil prices fall. In 2002, for example, the price of natural gas was three per cent lower than in 1985. Without the increase in natural gas tax, which had an additional impact on gas prices in 2002, the price of gas would have fallen by as much as 16 per cent between 1985 and 2002. Stadtwerke last adjusted its prices in January 2004. At that time, SWG was able to reduce the gas price by 0.2 cents. The price adjustment that is now necessary is the first oil price-related price increase for the Giessen-based energy and water supplier since January 2003.
"Basically, we, the municipal utilities, are in competition with other gas suppliers. There is also competition with other energy sources such as heating oil. Against this background, we have to calculate our prices carefully. And our customers benefit from this," says Siekmann.