Energy: Grid operators turned off power 200,000 times

The apartment stays dark and the stove usually stays cold: households had their electricity turned off more than 200,000 times last year because of outstanding bills. This emerges from the response of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a request from the Left, which is available to the German Press Agency. Gas supplies were also cut off more than 28,000 times in 2023.

The high electricity and gas prices are an enormous burden for many people, criticized the Left MP responsible for housing, Caren Lay. “It only recently became known that one in twelve households in Germany cannot heat their apartment adequately,” she said. More and more people are having to choose between a warm apartment and a full stomach. “This is nothing less than a scandal in one of the richest countries in the world.” The Left is calling for a ban on electricity and gas cuts.

According to the data, network operators reported 204,441 power cuts for 2023 – around 4,000 fewer than in the previous year. At the same time, the number of reported gas closures rose from 22,987 (in 2022) to 28,059 (in 2023).

Every third power cut affects a household in North Rhine-Westphalia. The most populous federal state, along with Baden-Württemberg, is also one of the only countries in which power cuts have recently been imposed more frequently. On the other hand, electricity was switched off significantly less often than in the previous year in Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen and Hamburg.