display
Munich (dpa) - Households in Germany paid more for their electricity last year than ever before.
According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, it was around 37.8 billion euros, a good 900 million euros more than in 2019.
Compared to 2016, when private consumption of around 127 billion kilowatt hours was almost the same as in 2020, electricity costs increased by a total of three billion euros.
The average price per kilowatt hour rose from 27 cents to around 30 cents during this period, according to the analysis available to the German press agency.
The levies and taxes included in the electricity price have risen particularly sharply in recent years.
According to figures from the Federal Network Agency in 2020, they accounted for more than three quarters of the electricity bills of private households.
According to the EU statistical office Eurostat, Germany, along with Denmark and Belgium, has the highest electricity prices for household customers.
display
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) wants to relieve consumers and businesses of electricity prices with a system change in promoting green electricity.
The promotion of renewable energies from plants that will be commissioned from 2022 could therefore be financed through taxpayers' money.
In the medium term, Altmaier believes it is necessary to completely abolish the surcharge that consumers have to pay.
"By abolishing the EEG surcharge, the federal government could relieve German households by around 9.7 billion euros," says Lasse Schmid, Managing Director Energy at Check24.
After the peak in 2020, electricity costs could continue to rise.
"If electricity consumption remains more or less constant in 2021, this record will be exceeded again in 2021," suspects electricity expert Schmid.
According to preliminary figures, the average megawatt hour of electricity on the electricity exchange in February cost just under 50 euros.
In April of last year, when the wholesale price had dropped to its lowest level since 2006, the megawatt hour cost just under 16 euros.
However, higher wholesale prices usually do not have a direct impact on the price for household customers.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210228-99-625006 / 2
Eurostat electricity price statistics