Natural gas is currently 50 percent cheaper in wholesale than last year. However, rates for households and smaller businesses have fallen much more slowly, the Federal Competition Authority criticizes. It is therefore keeping a close eye on local gas suppliers and has started an investigation.
“Gas is still one of the top five inflation factors. Despite falling wholesale prices, prices for end customers remain consistently high. The price drop is also lagging behind in European comparisons,” says Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch, head of the Federal Competition Authority (BWB), who now wants to keep a close eye on suppliers. “This is a sector study and we will present an interim report on this in June.”
There are indications that the possible tariff reductions will only be passed on hesitantly. Half as much gas was traded on the stock exchange in the first quarter than a year ago. For April there was also a reduction of 39 percent to an average of only 27.87 euros per megawatt hour. Customers hardly notice this.
Second comment: In fact, gas should have become cheaper for consumers even faster than electricity, because energy suppliers have always argued that they buy gas on the market in a shorter period of time than electricity. According to the BWB, the decrease in wholesale costs should have been quickly passed on to customers. The gas suppliers now have to provide information about how far in advance they purchase, how pricing works for them, etc. At the same time, they continue to investigate the electricity market together with E-Control, the research has been extended until the end of the year, when the electricity price brake will expire.
Already 180 million euros in fines against the construction cartel
However, the construction cartel currently worries the competition authorities most: because they have been charging excessive prices for government contracts through agreements for years, a large part of the construction sector has been sentenced to high fines totaling 180 million euros. To date, proceedings against nine major companies have been completed; only Porr had to pay a fine of 62.35 million euros. Five procedures are still ongoing and thirteen companies are still being investigated.
“We will make much more progress this year,” promises BWB boss Harsdorf-Borsch. The Strabag case is pending. She was ‘only’ sentenced to 45 million euros because she supported the investigation as a key witness. However, it later turned out that Strabag had not revealed everything, which meant that a higher sentence would now follow and the status of key witness no longer existed.
Overall, the BWB is very successful for taxpayers: last year it cost the authority almost 6 million euros, but in 2023 alone it imposed fines of 51 million euros on the state.
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.
