From NoTricksZone

By P Gosselin on 19. February 2023

Green energies making life in Germany unaffordable…we’ll have no heat and lights and be happy

We’ve all heard about the excruciatingly high energy prices Germans are forced to pay in the wake of the Energiewende (transition to green energies).

Yet, due to the fact that my own household had made a contract in 2021 that locked the heating gas and electricity prices for 2 years, our rates had stayed reasonably low. But that contract expires on April 1st, 2023, and last week we got the long awaited letter announcing the new prices from our gas and electric utility.

87% jump

Let’s start with electricity. Over the past 2 years we’ve been paying 21.77 euro-cents per kilowatt hour. Compared to other households that is a very low price:

Excerpt of the letter announcing our new electricity prices. 

But beginning April 2nd, the price will skyrocket, almost doubling, to 40.63 euro-cents a kilowatt-hour. That’s an 87% jump! Hate to imagine what that would mean for an energy-intensive company.

Gas explosion

Next we look at the new natural gas prices, which are important if we want to keep warm. Below we see that old price was 5.6 euro-cents a kilowatt-hour, which expires on April 2nd, 2023.

Excerpt of the letter announcing new heating gas prices.

On April 2nd, the new price jumps to a whopping 14.66 euro-cents per kilowatt-hour, a hefty 162% price increase! The EU likes to blame Putin for the high gas prices, but we all know what the real reason is:

Monthly that’s going to translate into some bills that are going to take some getting used to.

But my household is still one of the few lucky ones. Some 10 years ago we had installed 12.5 kilowatt capacity solar panels (10,000 kwh production annually), which more than offsets the higher electricity prices.

Burning wood to keep warm

And late last fall we installed a wood burning stove, which will keep the heating costs down, as we have a cheap supply of firewood. Most other fellow citizens are less fortunate, though, because they don’t have those kinds of options, especially those who rent apartments. Many double-income families are struggling and see little hope for the future.

Unfortunately the price hikes don’t end there. High energy prices have caused the price of everything to surge…especially food.

Germany’s Energiewende is all pain and no gain.