Jena (dpa/th) - Stadtwerke Jena will pass on the state gas levy of 2.419 cents per kilowatt hour directly to its customers from October. The municipal company announced this on Thursday in Jena - as one of the first suppliers in Thuringia. About 17,000 gas customers are affected. The levy, which is fixed nationwide, is intended to absorb increased procurement costs for importers. Gas suppliers must officially inform their customers six weeks in advance that they will collect the new gas surcharge from a certain date.
The company from the Thuringian industrial and university city also announced that the basic supply price for gas would also be raised. Reason are the "very high market prices". With the gas surcharge alone, the additional costs for a household with an average annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours of natural gas amount to around 575 euros gross, according to the municipal utility.
They also referred to a new gas storage levy of 0.059 cents net per kilowatt hour, which, according to the Energy Industry Act, must be passed on to all gas customers. With an average annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this leads to additional gross costs of around 14 euros per year for customers.
For almost 2000 customers, the energy price in the basic service tariff would also be increased. The basic price remains constant - but the price for consumption increases. As a result, households with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours would have to pay around 49 percent more - that's around 132 euros gross per month.
The company was "confronted with an unprecedented situation on the energy markets," said the responsible department manager at Stadtwerke, Frank Müller, in justifying the decisions. All customers would have to adjust to rising energy costs. "Nevertheless, we are doing everything we can to have a curbing effect on costs through prudent procurement and to prevent possible payment difficulties for our customers."
