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German Home Gas prices to raise 25% starting Sept 1 -over the 21% jump in last year!

by phoenixesrose | August 19, 2008 at 01:12 pm

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All I can say on this is ouch. I pay every 3 months - about 300 Eur. I got a bill for an additional 200 - and it's not even winter yet. Add to it the fact that food prices have gone up (in some cases doubled)... and that most people's average wage increase last year was 3% ... I don't know how people are keeping their heads above water.

Heating and electricity costs are gobbling up an ever-larger share of German household spending, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Tuesday.

Household expenditure on heating, electricity, gas and fuel jumped 21 percent in the last year and a half, according to government statisticians in Wiesbaden. The 18-month price boost nearly matches the 28-percent increase over the previous four years.

The average 2.1-person German household spent €267 ($392) in July on energy, according to government estimates. The average German household paid €221 per month in 2006 and €172 per month in 2002 for the same usage.

Customers can expect further price increases. German energy companies RWE and EnBW have already announced price hikes for natural gas, with EnBW saying on Monday its 20-percent increase is necessary because of rising coal prices. The increase is expected to cost a family with 14,000 kilowatt hours of usage in a year an additional €17.22 each month.

RWE will raise gas prices an average of 25 percent on September 1.