The supply of gas has recently been more than expensive for households. Not that the energy source is now available for free, but in just ten weeks the costs of national providers for new customers have more than halved, as a current study shows.
It has gotten pretty cold and the energy crisis is keeping Germany in suspense. The following evaluation of the comparison portal Verivox for 20 million households is just right: The new customer prices for gas are currently collapsing.
Accordingly, the costs of national providers for new customers have more than halved. At the end of August, households with an annual consumption (20,000 kWh) still had to spend around 8,080 euros for gas if they wanted to switch to the cheapest offer outside of the basic gas supply. Currently, only 3,780 euros have to be paid for the same amount of gas. This corresponds to a price reduction of 53 percent. The prices are at the level last seen in March 2022.
After the throttling of Russian gas supplies, the volume-weighted gas price on the Dutch TTF exchange reached a new all-time high of EUR 311 per megawatt hour in August. In the meantime, it has fallen by more than 90 percent. Currently, however, the price is again over 100 euros and thus many times higher than the long-term average of between 10 and 25 euros per megawatt hour. At the turn of the year, Verivox counted 544 gas price increases by local default suppliers by an average of 48 percent. With a consumption of 20,000 kWh, this means additional costs of 1094 euros per year.
"Mild autumn weather, increasing gas storage levels and the savings efforts of the citizens have contributed to the fact that wholesale prices have fallen significantly in recent weeks," says Thorsten Storck, energy expert at Verivox. "Utilities now have more leeway in pricing." Which means that the comparison and change of provider is often worthwhile again.
According to the comparison portal, a similar price trend is emerging for electricity. Prices for new customers peaked on October 11 at 2,260 euros for an annual consumption of 4,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Currently, the costs amount to 1612 euros. This corresponds to a price drop of around 27 percent.
