The recent rise in electricity and gas prices is placing many small and medium-sized businesses in a precarious position.

Bakers, butchers, innkeepers, hairdressers or fitness studios typically conclude contracts for one year in September or October of the previous year.

Anyone who wanted to do it that way this year was confronted with record-high energy prices that made spontaneous purchase of large amounts of energy economically impossible.

Mark Fehr

Editor in business.

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The electricity price on the daily spot market on October 7th marked an all-time high of 443 euros per megawatt hour, which of course was a snapshot. But the longer-term prices for the following year have also risen since January, from around 50 to 125 euros. The annual price for gas also rose from 17 to up to 100 euros for what experts call the front year. The increased price of CO2 exacerbates the situation even more.

Although the EEG surcharge for promoting renewable energies will decrease in the coming year, Ludwig Veltmann from the association Der Mittelstandsverbund (ZGV) believes that this will not be enough to compensate for the sharp rise in energy prices and the higher CO2 price.

"Politicians should therefore temporarily lower or eliminate the electricity tax and VAT on the electricity price," demands Veltmann.

For bakers, furniture stores, garden centers or supermarkets, electricity costs make up a large part of sales, according to the general manager of the ZGV, but unlike particularly energy-intensive companies, such companies are not exempt from the EEG surcharge.

That is how complex the price of electricity is

Tax relief may be a temporary help. In the long term, however, companies will probably not be able to avoid changing their electricity and gas purchases. Given the historically steep rise in energy prices and the sharp fluctuations, companies have to use methods of procuring electricity and gas other than buying large quantities on the fly. Energy providers offer different types of contracts that reduce the risk of having to meet demand at the highest prices of all things.

Mario Beck, managing director of the electricity trading company Süwag Vertrieb, a subsidiary of the energy supplier Süwag, which in turn belongs to the energy group Eon / Innogy and various municipal utilities, explains the possibilities for this. "The electricity price on the EEX energy exchange is higher than ever, not even after extreme events like Fukushima or the financial crisis," says Beck. This is a nasty surprise, especially for those companies that were able to conclude electricity contracts at particularly low prices in the previous year due to the Corona crisis. The main reason for the current record for electricity prices is the sharp rise in prices for energy resources such as coal and gas. In addition, the price of CO2 has been raised.

A small consolation: After all, the high electricity prices mean that the EEG surcharge for promoting renewable energies will drop significantly from 6.5 to 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour in the coming year.

In addition, energy prices only make up around 25 percent of the total electricity price.

The remainder consists of 50 percent taxes, levies and surcharges and 25 percent network charges.