Rising basic costs disadvantage Germans who save power
Clean Energy Wire
Electricity prices have risen particularly high for Germans with a low level of consumption due to a rise in basic costs of 30 percent from 2014 to 2019, according to an analysis by price comparison website Verivox. Within the same time frame, the usage-bound working price per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity has only gone up by 3 percent. "This development makes saving electricity for cost reasons less and less attractive," said Verivox energy expert Valerian Vogel.
Although in early 2019 Germans paid the highest nominal power prices of all customers in Europe, a stable majority of German citizens continue to support the Energiewende, or energy transition, and consider it generally beneficial for the economy. Taxes, levies and surcharges account for more than half of what Germany’s households and small businesses pay with their power bill.
