The 10 most expensive public utilities: Where electricity and gas cost 1000 euros too much

More than 50 cents for a kilowatt hour of electricity. Almost 20 cents for a kilowatt hour of gas. Prices like at the height of the energy crisis after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. But the prices are from today. And it is not dubious companies that are selling energy at such high prices. They are municipal utilities. Basic suppliers. Providers that citizens trust.

Let’s take the Schweinfurt municipal utility company: there, a kilowatt hour of electricity costs a good 56 cents in the basic supply. A family of four (with 4000 kilowatt hours of consumption) pays 2380 euros per year. If they were to switch to the cheapest provider, they could save 1400 euros in the first year.

Away from the public utility: Save enough money from the gas supplier for a summer vacation

Or let’s take the Velbert municipal utility company: there, a kilowatt hour of gas in the basic supply currently costs 19.7 cents for a family of four (with 20,000 kWh consumption). Annual costs: 4,241 euros. If she were to switch to the cheapest provider, she could save more than 2,500 euros in the first year. Enough money for a family vacation.

These prices are no exception. The star With the help of the comparison portal Verivox, we have identified the ten most expensive basic suppliers for electricity and gas. On average, these public utilities charge 1100 euros more for electricity than the cheapest competitor with a price guarantee, and almost 2300 euros more for gas.

Four basic suppliers even made it onto both lists of the star: for electricity and gas. Namely the Velbert and Konstanz municipal utilities, as well as the Gera Energy Supply (EGG) and the Zwickauer Energy Supply (ZEV). Anyone who uses electricity and gas in these cities without ever having negotiated their contract should do something quickly. The good news: basic supply does not have a long notice period. After just two weeks, customers can part ways with their expensive provider.

Anyone who does nothing automatically ends up in basic care

The basic supply is the contract you end up with if you do nothing after moving in. If you switch on the electricity or open the gas, you are automatically on the basic supply. If you don’t specify otherwise when registering, you will remain on it. For gas, one in five private customers is on the expensive basic supply. For electricity, the figure is one in four.

The convenience of not switching is costing customers dearly. The basic providers charge the highest price. “Unfortunately, the attitude is often: the existing customer is already there, so you can charge more without any problems,” says Verivox Managing Director Daniel Puschmann to star“As an economist, I believe in the market. Customers’ switching signals must also reach the basic suppliers. Otherwise, prices will not fall.”

The basic suppliers are not aware of any guilt. star asked the expensive suppliers on the list about their high prices. The arguments are unanimous: as a basic supplier, you have to take on every customer when in doubt. That is why you buy gas and electricity for your customers over the long term and with little risk. In the industry, periods of between 12 and 36 months are common. New orders are placed every month, regardless of how high the prices are on the electricity and gas market. Typically, this is around 18 months.

The 10 cities with the most expensive basic electricity suppliers*

Municipal utilities justify themselves: risk diversification at the expense of existing customers

“Due to the temporal risk diversification, the prices in 2024 include partial quantities that had to be procured at comparatively high costs in 2022 and 2023 in view of the price turbulence in connection with the Ukraine war,” explain the Velbert municipal utilities, for example. Zwickauer Energieversorgung also argues that “the market price peaks, especially from the summer of 2022, are included in our procurement period for 2024.”

The municipal utilities also have a safety function: “We have taken on many customers whose suppliers had stopped supplying at short notice during the crisis,” argue the Schweinfurt municipal utilities. “For us, this meant that we had to buy additional quantities at top prices at short notice.” In fact, due to long-term purchasing planning, there was also a phase in 2022 in which basic supplies were suddenly comparatively cheap. However, that was over again by the beginning of 2023. In the end, the crisis prices also reach the municipal utilities, just with a delay – and in case of doubt, higher.

It is also noticeable that not all basic suppliers charge so much. In Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne, for example, a kilowatt hour of electricity costs just under 42 cents – which, according to the Federal Network Agency, corresponds to the national average for all contracts, i.e. basic suppliers and other contracts combined. And there are basic suppliers like SWB in Bremen, which are even significantly below the average at a good 35 cents.

The 10 cities with the most expensive basic gas suppliers*

Currently, electricity only has to cost 25 cents per kilowatt hour

However, the prices for newly concluded contracts have been falling significantly for over a year. “A good tariff for new customers is currently around 25 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity,” reports Verivox Managing Director Puschmann. And gas is also significantly cheaper. While our ten most expensive public utilities charge an average of 19 cents per kilowatt hour for gas, the national average for all types of contract is just 12.5 cents. And according to Verivox, customers pay an average of just 7.5 cents for the cheapest new contract nationwide.

The price differences are so great that even the state regulatory authority, the Federal Network Agency, is recommending that German citizens take action. “If you haven’t done so yet, we recommend checking your electricity or gas contract for savings opportunities,” says Klaus Müller., President of the Federal Network Agency. “Changing suppliers is currently the easiest way to save money.”

Cheaper from the municipal utility itself

Municipal utilities usually offer so-called special tariffs that are cheaper than their own basic supply. The municipal utilities also point this out.

In fact, the majority of Germans have such special contracts with their municipal utilities. This is the most common argument used by the super-expensive municipal utilities to justify their expensive basic supply compared to the star justify: ENNI, the basic supplier for Moers, reports that around 70 percent of its customers use cheaper special products.

A special tariff is better than the basic service. However, it is usually much cheaper for customers to choose a completely different provider.

*Note on the evaluation: The tariffs were checked on July 11, 2024. Billing by Verivox for the starevaluated and checked by star. Gas prices for household customers with 20,000 kilowatts of annual consumption. Electricity prices based on 4,000 kilowatt hours of annual consumption. Compared with the cheapest offer with price guarantee and bonus where applicable.

The table shows the ten most expensive basic suppliers. The selection takes into account the 200 largest cities in terms of area, population and population density according to the Federal Statistical Office (as of 2018).