11 euros more per month

Energy grid fees to rise sharply from January

Higher charges, the end of the electricity price cap and more levies will soon make energy bills more expensive.

(Bild: gopixa - stock.adobe.com)

Households will have to pay an average of around 11 euros more per month for energy from January. The fees for the electricity and gas grid will rise by up to 23 percent across Austria. There are two reasons for this.

Following the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission, it is now a done deal: from January, households and businesses will have to pay a lot more for electricity and gas. As reported, this concerns the grid fees that every consumer will have to pay regardless of their energy supplier.

Fees are rising, but there are regional differences
Specifically, the fee for electricity will rise by 19 percent for all consumers and by as much as 23 percent for households. Assuming the usual average consumption of 3,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, this results in additional costs of around EUR 73 for private consumers, which equates to EUR 6.10 per month.

Those who consume natural gas will pay 16.6 percent more in future for an annual consumption of 15,000 kWh. This amounts to an additional 5 euros per month. In total, a household will therefore have to dig deeper into its pockets by an average of €11 per month.

However, there are regional differences. Grid fees for electricity will rise more in Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Burgenland than in the rest of the country. For gas, on the other hand, there is even a reduction in the fee in Graz.

Electricity consumption will rise significantly
This is due to the reasons for the higher charges. Firstly, the high investments in the electricity grid, which are necessary due to the transformation of the energy system to more "green" energy sources, are having an impact. Additional generators (PV systems, wind turbines, biogas plants, etc.) are constantly being added to the grid, which therefore needs to be adapted. In addition, electricity consumption will increase significantly. Conclusion: "In the previous year, EUR 2.5 billion was raised through user charges, but this year it is already EUR 3 billion," explains Alfons Haber, CEO of the energy authority E-Control. This total sum is divided among all consumers.

The second reason is the noticeable decline in consumption via the electricity and gas grids. In the case of electricity, for example, almost six percent less electricity was recently exchanged via the lines due to the many partial self-suppliers with domestic PV systems. The high costs therefore have to be spread over fewer sales volumes, which increases the contribution per consumer.

Less gas consumption thanks to mild weather
Gas consumption actually fell by around seven percent, for example due to the switch to other heating systems, the mild winter and the economic downturn, which curbed industrial consumption.

Taking into account the fact that the electricity price brake will be lifted from January and electricity and natural gas taxes will rise, energy bills will probably be noticeably higher for all consumers.