Consumers in Germany can expect a significant increase in gas and electricity rates in 2023, despite all the measures taken by the German government to limit energy prices.
According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, which refers to research by the online marketplace Verivox, in Germany a household that consumes 20,000 kilowatt hours of gas per year will have to pay an average of 2,700 euros per year from January 2023, which is 1,400 or 112 percent more than in the fall of 2021.
For light, Germans in January will have to pay on average 44% more than in the fall of 2021. If a household consumes about four thousand kilowatt-hours per year, it will have to pay 1.7 thousand euros. Intervention of the authorities will allow to restrain the price of electricity by only 5%, writes the publication.
At the end of November, the German Cabinet of Ministers approved measures to curb the prices of gas, light and heat. The regulatory mechanism is expected to take effect on March 1, 2023. There will be limited prices for private households and small and medium businesses consuming less than 1.5 gigawatt-hours per year. The cost of blue fuel for them will be set at up to 12 cents per kilowatt hour, for electricity - up to 40 cents per kilowatt hour. The price for district heating will be limited to 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The energy crisis in the EU was exacerbated in early July when the first interruptions to Russian gas supplies occurred. After that, the European Commission called on European Union countries to prepare for a complete cessation of supplies from Russia and enacted a plan to voluntarily reduce consumption of natural gas by 15% for the period until March 31, 2023.