Industry electricity prices for German companies drop almost one quarter in early 2024
Clean Energy Wire
Prices for electricity in Germany have dropped considerably in early 2024 compared to the annual average for the previous year, an analysis by the Federation of German Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) has found. Especially small and medium-sized industrial companies benefitted from falling prices, paying on average 17.60 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh) in new contracts excluding the electricity tax, 23 percent less than in the year before. At the height of the energy crisis in 2022, prices for industry climbed to well over 40 ct/kWh. Households saw prices drop by 8 percent on average to 42.22 ct/kWh in the analysis released in mid-February. The share of taxes, levies and other state-imposed price components for all consumers slightly fell at the beginning of the year, by 0.36 ct/kWh to a share of 29 percent of the total price. The share of grid fees was 27 percent while procurement and retailing costs accounted for 44 percent of the price, BDEW said.
Economist and economy ministry advisor Jens Südekum called the analysis’s results “astonishing.” Commenting on social media platform X, Südekum pointed out that industry prices had fallen “significantly” and that price indicators continued to point downwards. The trend would be similar for private households, albeit at a slower pace, he argued. Once current contracts expire, Südekum said lower prices should become widespread in new ones. “Overall, the BDEW figures don’t chime with current mood in debates, which is that everything is going down the drain due to high energy prices,” he argued.
