Gas prices in Germany rose again in August: prices for consumers reached their highest level in five years.

The Internet portal Verivox presented a corresponding comparison on Tuesday.

In Germany, almost half of all households heat with gas, oil heating only make up about 25 percent.

Most recently, gas was as expensive as it is now in January 2016 and even other gas suppliers have already announced price increases by an average of 9 percent for the fall.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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Obviously, winter can become significantly more expensive for many households.

An average household in a single-family house heated with gas would then have to pay around 130 euros more per year than before.

8 percent increase since January

The gas costs for a household with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) would currently be at a national average of 1258 euros.

At the beginning of the year, the average gas price for such a household was 1162 euros.

That corresponds to an increase of more than 8 percent since January, emphasizes Verivox.

The main reason for the upward trend are increased wholesale prices.

"The low levels of gas storage facilities in Germany and the global increase in gas demand have more than doubled the spot market prices for gas in the course of the year - this increase is now also affecting gas prices for private consumers," said Thorsten Storck, energy specialist at Verivox.

Further price increases in prospect

Most recently, it was discussed whether Russia might have temporarily cut gas supplies in a targeted manner in order to advertise the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

In any case, according to Verivox, no regional gas supplier has announced gas price reductions for the coming months.

For August, September and October, however, 31 regional suppliers have already decided to increase prices by an average of 9 percent.

"We expect a bigger wave of gas prices this autumn," says Storck: "In addition to higher wholesale prices, the CO2 price for fossil fuels will also rise from 25 to 30 euros per ton at the turn of the year - many gas suppliers pass these costs on directly to their customers."

The Internet portal Check 24 has meanwhile investigated what a household can save if it switches from a basic supply of natural gas to a cheaper provider.

The result: the savings vary considerably depending on the location.

“On average in the 100 largest German cities, a family pays 28 percent or 436 euros less each year with the cheapest alternative provider than with basic services,” the company writes.

In some places like Schwerin you can save up to 43 percent of the gas costs by switching.