German households will have to pay almost €500 more a year for gas after a levy was set to help utilities cover the cost of replacing Russian supplies, piling pressure on Berlin to come up with further relief measures for the public.
Trading Hub Europe, the German gas market operator, said on Monday it had set the charge at €2.419 per kilowatt hour (kWH).
The levy, introduced by Germany in a bid to help Uniper and other importers cope with soaring prices, will be imposed from October 1 and remain in place until April 2024.
For an average family of four, the charge will amount to an additional annual cost of around €480, or an increase of about 13% on the Verivox price comparison platform's calculation of an average gas bill of €3,568 based on usage of 20,000 kWh/year.
Industry will also be subject to the levy, with German steel group WV Stahl saying it would add around another €500 million a year to the sector's energy bills, on top of €7 billion in extra costs already attributed to high energy prices.
"The gas surcharge significantly increases the cost pressure already exerted on the steel industry by the extreme price increases on the energy markets," WV Stahl President Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff said.
Economists warned that the levy would further accelerate inflation in Europe's largest economy, which is already running at an elevated 8.5%, with some relief measures such as low-cost public transport tickets set to expire.
"The gas levy is expected to increase inflation, including the value-added tax, by almost one percentage point," said Commerzbank chief economist Joerg Kraemer, adding that the measure adds to mounting signs the German economy could slip into recession this winter.
The Federation of German Industries called for business support measures.
Germany is awaiting a response from Brussels on a VAT exemption for the levy and Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week promised an additional relief package for households, a commitment reiterated by his deputy and economy minister Robert Habeck following the announcement of the size of the levy.
"The levy is a consequence of Putin's illegal war of aggression on Ukraine and the artificial energy shortage caused by Russia," Habeck said in a statement.
Russia has throttled gas flows to Germany, blaming technical problems and the red tape of Western sanctions for a drop in deliveries via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of its capacity.
The German government has called the reductions politically motivated.
