In order to pay the electricity and gas bills, many people in Germany will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets than they already do.

Because the energy prices, which are currently at a high level, will continue to rise overall in the coming months, as the comparison portal Verivox announced on Sunday, referring to publications by energy providers.

For the months of April, May and June, basic suppliers, in whose area 13 million households are located, have announced 166 price increases for electricity - on average, the tariffs will rise by 19.5 percent.

It is not known how many of these households have contracts with the basic suppliers or are with other providers.

Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck says that wholesale prices for electricity suppliers have tripled within a year.

After all, the EEG surcharge will no longer apply in mid-2022.

However, this will "only slightly mitigate" the increase in energy costs for households, says Storck.

In the second quarter, Verivox counted 118 gas price increases from basic suppliers in whose area seven million households are located.

On average, tariffs will increase by 42.3 percent.

"All gas providers in Germany are struggling with historically high purchase prices," says Verivox expert Storck.

"The war in Ukraine and a possible gas supply freeze will further aggravate the situation." Consumers will therefore have to brace themselves for rising prices in the coming months, according to Storck.

So looking ahead is anything but promising, and looking back is also sobering.

According to calculations by Verivox, electricity prices in Germany have increased by around half within a year.

If a household with an annual consumption of 4000 kilowatt hours paid 1171 euros per year for electricity, it is now 1737 euros.

The average annual prices are gross, i.e. including VAT.

In the case of gas, the price curve pointed even more clearly upwards: If an exemplary family with a gas consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours had to spend 1184 euros per year in April 2021, it is currently 2787 euros - that is an increase of 135 percent.