Power prices in Germany often higher than necessary

Many electricity suppliers in Germany will not lower their prices in 2018, even though falling wholesale power prices and grid fees mean they have leeway to do so, Thomas Öchsner reports for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Germany’s average 2017 power price was higher than ever before, at 28.18 euro cents per kilowatt, Öchsner writes, even though wholesale prices were down 3 percent. Mathias Köster-Niechziol of price comparison website Verivox told the newspaper most of Germany’s 800 suppliers would leave prices unchanged in the new year. Power suppliers “are ready to use any argument in favour of higher prices,” Udo Sieverding of the North Rhine-Westphalia Customer Protection Union said.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet What German households pay for power for background.