An analysis by Verivox, reported in Berliner Morgenpost on Feb. 25, shows that households have to pay substantially more for energy use now, than in 2021. According to the report, the average household is currently spending €1,534 ($1,662) per year more on electricity, fuel, and heating than in February 2021. The current figure is €5,306 versus €3,772 in February 2021 on an annualized basis, a 41% surge over the past three years, the newspaper wrote.
The Verivox analysis used an average three-person household, which consumes an average of 20,000 kWh of energy for heating, 4,000 kWh in electricity, and drives 13,300 km per year.
“Electricity, gas, heating oil and fuel: three years after the start of the energy crisis, energy is still significantly more expensive than before. Although costs have fallen by a third since their peak in October 2022, private households are still heavily burdened by high energy costs,” Thorsten Storck, an energy expert at Verivox, said at the presentation of the report. Part of the price increases is due to effects of the pandemic, but most is due to the consequences of the EU’s sanctions against Russian natural gas and of the Sept. 26, 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines that brought Russian gas underneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.