The bang could be heard clearly a few days before Christmas: Electricity discounters in particular increased their electricity prices tremendously. Cheap customers were terminated or they were given a contract with new, much higher tariffs. “Many people are now switching back to the large electricity providers with their fixed prices,” says the chairman of the Electromobility Club Austria (EMC), Bernhard Kern. The full-time financial advisor helps a number of customers change suppliers. “The providers sometimes no longer keep up with the data entry of new customers,” says Kern.
Five major increased tariffs
But how much has the price of electricity increased? The two large providers in Upper Austria, Linz AG and Energie AG, have not touched their prices. Only the electricity discounters and the major suppliers in Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria and Carinthia increased their tariffs around the turn of the year. “The price increase for an average household there is between 145 and 160 euros per year for the large electricity suppliers,” says Daniel Hantigk from E-Control. But because around 100 euros in eco-taxes have been dropped since the beginning of the year, the increase is consistently mild.
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Comparison of annual fuel and electricity costs
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So how badly are e-car drivers affected? Not at all at Linz AG and Energie AG for the time being. “We have no plans to increase the price of electricity in the next few months,” says Gerald Mayrhofer from Linz AG. “Our price for household electricity has remained unchanged since May 2017.”
In the other federal states, Daniel Hantigk calculated an increase in the annual costs for e-car drivers of 150 euros – with an average consumption of 20 kWh per 100 kilometers and 20,000 annual kilometers.
The comparison between combustion engines and electric cars is still decided by electric cars, according to Hantigk. Rather, the gap in Upper Austria has widened because fuel prices were at a long-term low in the previous year and have since risen by around 40 cents per liter (see table above). The annual costs for a gasoline engine (9 l / 100 km, 15,000 km / year) rose from 1426 to 1915 euros. In contrast, the average electricity price in Upper Austria actually fell slightly. While the annual requirement for an e-car (20 kWh / 100 km, 15,000 km / year) cost 685 euros this year, the total a year earlier was 712 euros.
What to do?
If the cheap contract was prematurely terminated by the electricity provider, you should wait for a new contract first, says Ulrike Weiß from AK Consumer Protection. Because legally nothing can be opposed to a termination. However, the damage, i.e. the price difference between the old and the new contract, can then be sued, said Weiß.
Source: Nachrichten
