That’s how much we would save if the gas levy were to fall

By Ishmael Hormess

The announcement of the gas price levy – the levy to be paid by consumers to support struggling gas importers – came as a shock to many citizens. At a time when money is threatening to become scarce even for food, having to pay for a warm apartment in addition to drastically increased gas prices in the freezing winter: for many, the financial death knell.

More and more politicians are questioning the plan of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (53, Greens)! “The gas levy should be put to the test,” said SPD leader Lars Klingbeil (44, SPD) to the RND. AND: A good week before its introduction, the controversial gas surcharge is now also being examined under constitutional law.

The Habeck Plan wobbles – is the about-face coming now?

There is currently a political discussion as to whether the gas procurement levy of 2.419 cents planned for October 1 would have to be dropped after the nationalization of Uniper.

BECAUSE: After all, the federal government will then own around 99 percent of the shares in Uniper – and everything will be financed by our taxpayers’ money. So we taxpayers would be asked to pay twice from October 1st.

Check24 has calculated what the elimination of the surcharge means for consumers while reducing VAT to seven percent. And you’d be amazed, it would be a real financial relief:

▶︎ A single person in a 50 square meter apartment (5000 kWh) would be relieved by 87 euros.

︎ A married couple in a 100 square meter apartment (12,000 kWh) would be relieved by 190 euros.

︎ A family with a child in a 150 square meter apartment (18,000 kWh) would be relieved by 277 euros.

︎ A family with two children in a terraced house (20,000 kWh) would be relieved by 306 euros.

▶︎ A family with three or more children in a house (35,000 kWh) would be relieved by 524 euros.

Overall, a model household with a consumption of 20,000 kWh has to pay an average of 4371 euros at the current gas price including 19 percent VAT. A reduction in VAT to seven percent would only result in 4,065 euros without the discussed gas surcharge.

The gas price goes down

Good news in times of crisis: The gas price goes down – after setting a new record in the past few weeks.

The wholesale gas price has fallen after the record of the past few weeks – but remains at a very high level and not comparable to the prices of the pre-war period.

A megawatt hour of gas cost 186 euros at 8 a.m. on Friday morning. At the end of August, the price was still 347 euros/MWh. But: A year ago today, only 34 euros were due.

A model household (20,000 kWh) paid an average of 4371 euros a year for gas. This corresponds to an average price of 21.9 cents per kWh – an increase of an unbelievable 232 percent compared to the previous year.

As of October, there are already 746 cases of gas price increases in the basic supply. Around 3.5 million households are affected. In November, the increases averaged 106.6 percent compared to the first quarter of the year.

Although basic gas suppliers have already increased prices in more than 1000 cases in late and winter 2021, prices have been increased or announced in a further 1307 cases since March 1, 2022. On average, the price increases amount to 90.9 percent and affect a good 3.8 million households.

For a model household with a consumption of 20,000 kWh, this means additional costs averaging 1672 euros per year.

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