Electricity and gas are not only becoming much more expensive than before for consumers, tradesmen are also groaning under the rising energy costs. A survey of them now paints a bleak picture.
Arnsberg (dpa / lnw) - Due to high energy costs, concerns about the future in the trade have increased significantly. According to a survey of 987 companies by the South Westphalia Chamber of Crafts, 82 percent see their existence threatened as a result of the energy price trend. But the impact is different. 49 percent see themselves as only "low risk", 19 percent more and 14 percent at high or very high risk. Only 18 percent said they were "not at risk at all."
"We have a dramatic situation in the trades," said the general manager of the Chamber of Crafts, Hendrik Schmitt, when presenting the survey carried out in September. In previous years, similar surveys would have returned much lower values. Bakeries, car paint shops and metalworking companies in general are particularly affected.
"Politicians really have to act, otherwise we will have a massive crisis in the trades in winter," said Schmitt. There is then a threat of "a huge wave of operational closures". Craftsmen would then deregister their businesses before they went bankrupt.
The chamber called on the federal government to include the skilled trades in funding programs and to take immediate measures. "If we don't do that, we have a very, very difficult year ahead of us." In addition, price caps for electricity and gas are necessary so that future energy prices can be better calculated. Craftsmen would not know what they would have to spend on energy in six months or nine months. That makes their business extremely difficult because they have to make offers to their customers for future work, Schmitt said.
The survey also made it clear that consumers and other trade customers have to adjust to higher prices. More than three quarters of the craftsmen surveyed (77 percent) stated that they would increase prices in the coming months due to rising energy costs. When asked how high this increase would be, half of the survey participants gave a range of 10 to 25 percent.
