When the brake falls

Electricity costs before the explosion

The energy suppliers throttle the Danube power plants in view of too much solar power.

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

The clock is ticking. But the price brake, which expires on June 30, has not yet been tightened. This leaves customers and energy suppliers somewhat perplexed. On the one hand, customers could see a sharp rise in prices for end consumers, while on the other, the companies have to prepare for all eventualities.

"Unfortunately, we still don't know anything" - at the hotline for the electricity cost subsidy, the state of knowledge is the same: the electricity price brake expires on June 30, and it is uncertain whether the announced successor regulation will come. This means that customers are threatened with an effective price explosion if they have to pay up to more than 20 cents per kilowatt hour instead of ten cents.

Electricity purchased for three years
"We can't react that quickly. We buy electricity for three years and then calculate the prices. Whether there is an electricity price brake or not is not relevant for pricing," says Energie AG, for example, which will reduce gas prices from July 1 - provided that customers switch to a new product. Depending on the initial product, the savings for an annual consumption of 15,000 kilowatt hours are between 470 and 1970 euros.

Reduce power plants
It is well known that electricity prices have fallen sharply again on the international markets, there are already fixed price offers of less than ten cents per kilowatt hour, and those who are more risky and opt for a so-called floater tariff can even get money for their electricity consumption on a sunny weekend. This is when the energy from the photovoltaic systems flows en masse into the grid, but few consumers are switched on, there is too much electricity on the market and Verbund even has to throttle back its Danube power plants.