Ongoing fall of energy prices helps reduce Germany’s overall inflation for households

Prices for energy have decreased 4.5 percent in Germany in the year up to November 2023, the country’s statistical office Destatis has found. Since November 2022, when the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the energy crisis led to historic price rises across much of Europe, the cost of fuel nearly rose by 7 percent. Households paid 19.4 percent less for heating oil and 18.3 percent less for natural gas a year on. However, electricity prices were 1.6 percent higher than one year before. Household prices for natural gas were still nearly twice as high as in January 2020, about 50 percent higher for fuels and 30 percent higher for electricity.

Falling energy prices helped to reduce overall inflation to 3.2 percent in November this year, down from 3.8 percent in October. “The inflation rate has been going down for five months in a row,” said Destatis president Ruth Brand. Regarding energy products, “the situation has visibly calmed down,” she added. The introduction of the so-called Germany Ticket that allows the use of local public transport across the country for a flat rate of 49 euros per month further helped to bring down overall inflation for consumers, cutting costs for the use of trains, buses, and other means of transportation by 22.7 percent, Destatis said.