Households still had to pay significantly more for energy in November 2022 than a year earlier. Although energy prices for households have fallen slightly compared to October, the average year-on-year increase was about 42 percent, according to calculations by the Austrian energy agency.
There were especially strong increases for wood pellets (+148 percent) and natural gas (+109 percent), where prices more than doubled. “Given the current wholesale situation, a return of prices for household customers to pre-crisis levels is not expected in the short or medium term,” said the Energy Agency.
Price fall on the wholesale markets
However, there has recently been a slight relaxation. The brake on the electricity price of the federal government came into effect in December 2022. There has been a collapse in prices in the wholesale markets in recent weeks. The very mild temperatures, combined with Europe-wide efforts to save energy and the generally reduced energy demand around the December holidays, have led to unexpectedly low gas demand.
“For customers with spot price or float rates, which are closely linked to wholesale prices and have not changed even during extreme price phases, these price drops are felt immediately or with a slight delay,” the energy agency says. This also explains the slight fall in electricity prices of approximately 4 percent in November compared to October.
Please wait for the next price adjustment
Customers who have contracts with a price guarantee or an annual or semi-annual price adjustment clause should wait until the next price adjustment. These are usually at the beginning of the quarter.
Year-on-year, household electricity prices were still almost a fifth higher in November than in November 2021. Heating oil rose year-on-year by 77 percent, district heating by almost 62 percent and firewood became 83 percent more expensive on average.
Gasoline is still expensive in general
Although fuel prices fell from October, they remained expensive overall. Diesel cost 38 percent more in November than in November 2021, and premium petrol was up by about a fifth.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
