The energy market is completely out of joint.
Many citizens will have suppressed the inevitable increase in gas prices up to now in this hot summer.
But the moment of truth is not only coming in the Wiesbaden area this week.
Around six weeks before the new tariffs come into force, the energy suppliers have to provide their customers with clarity, and this will be painful, as the calculations by Eswe Supply show.
In the future, more than 4000 euros a year will be due for a reasonably well heated apartment in winter.
This is anything but trivial for any average family.
It's a burden that needs to be overcome first.
Many will have to stretch for it.
One of the strange consequences of this financially painful development is that an energy supplier like Eswe now has to raise prices sharply if it doesn't want to go bankrupt.
Hope will be in vain
But he does not have to fear that many disappointed or angry customers will jump off him.
Because the basic supplier Eswe, which was comparatively expensive in the past, is even cheaper than most "discounters" who stock up on gas for their customers on the spot market.
Many families are only now becoming aware of the extent of the gas supply crisis – and then again in October, when the first deductions are posted from the account.
Then the eyes turn to politics, which is already pondering further relief packages.
In the end, citizens will only be able to hope for relief if they start saving energy in their own households.
It is worthwhile for all homeowners to think about investments that may only pay off in a few years.
Because the hope that in one to two years everything will have calmed down enough for energy prices to approach pre-crisis levels again is likely to turn out to be a bold illusion.