The surcharge for all gas consumers from October could be significantly more expensive than previously announced. According to information from government circles, the Ministry of Economics has now drawn up the ordinance for the implementation of the levy and introduced it to the coordination round with the other ministries, the so-called departmental coordination.
However, the ordinance does not yet state the specific amount of the levy. When announcing the surcharge for the increased procurement costs for gas last week, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced that the price per kilowatt hour (kWh) for consumers would rise by around two cents, resulting in an additional annual burden of 200 to 300 euros would lead.
However, this value depends on numerous factors that are still unknown, including the originally planned purchase price for gas imports, the actual market price from October and the replacement quantities that have to be procured at the higher prices.
If you take an originally agreed price of 30 euros per megawatt hour as a basis, which had to be paid many years before the Ukraine war, and assume the current market price of just under 200 euros in the fall, the worst-case scenario would be a significantly higher difference than that of Scholz mentioned two cents per kilowatt hour.
In fact, in such a worst-case scenario, the additional costs could be more than twice as high, i.e. up to almost five cents per kilowatt hour, which in turn would result in a levy of up to just under for an average household with a consumption of around 20,000 kWh 1000 euros per year could result. The actual amount of the surcharge is to be determined and published by the end of August.
According to information from ministry circles, the regulation shows that the surcharge is actually to be introduced from October 1st. Scholz had announced it by this date at the latest, but an earlier introduction from September 1 was still considered possible.
The levy is said to appear on customers’ gas bills for the first time by the end of November or beginning of December.
“Everything on shares” is the daily stock exchange shot from the WELT business editorial team. Every morning from 7 a.m. with our financial journalists. For stock market experts and beginners. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and Deezer. Or directly via RSS feed.
