Sixfold increase since 2015
Every second company faces energy “cost explosion”
03/13/2022 10:56 am
When war broke out in Ukraine two weeks ago, more than half of the companies in Germany had not yet signed any gas and energy contracts for the coming year. With the now rising energy prices, many companies are confronted with high costs “that can hardly be absorbed”.
The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce warns of a cost explosion for companies due to the sharp rise in energy prices as a result of the Ukraine war. The DIHK called on the federal government to take short-term stabilization measures. According to the DIHK, many companies are currently facing a dilemma. According to the DIHK, with reference to a current company survey, every second company still has to contractually secure its electricity and gas supply for the current year. “This means that every second company is facing a cost explosion that can hardly be contained,” says Deputy DIHK General Manager Achim Dercks.
When the war broke out, half of the companies had not yet completed their electricity and gas procurement for the current year, citing 2,000 responses from companies from all sectors.
The high number can be explained by the fact that many companies have waited due to the already extremely high prices in recent months or have only concluded supply contracts for short periods of time. In the past, many companies would have procured once a year for the next twelve months. “That has changed significantly as a result of the current price spiral,” says Dercks. A medium-sized company from the glass industry paid an average of 100,000 euros per month for its energy supply in 2015. Currently five to six times the amount is due for this, sometimes even more.
Abolishing the EEG surcharge is not enough
The planned early abolition of the EEG surcharge via the electricity bill on July 1, 2022 is an important signal. “But it can only offset a fraction of the higher procurement costs,” said Dercks. “Now we need short-term stabilization measures, such as a reduction in state surcharges and the electricity tax together with low-interest KfW loans or even direct emergency payments. In the medium term, we need solutions to keep energy costs in Germany at a competitive level.”
According to the DIHK, the current price explosions are hitting German industrial companies harder than their international competitors. Even before the attack on Ukraine, German medium-sized companies had to pay the highest electricity prices in Europe. Many companies have already been looking for a way out of this crisis in the past few months. Where possible, the procurement strategy has already been improved. More than 70 percent of the companies would also be interested in long-term direct supply contracts for green electricity.