Tobias Ochsenbein, Matthias Kempf, Celine Trachsel and Sermin Faki
Gas prices are exploding in Germany – and Swiss regions are also being affected. Stein am Rhein SH, for example, has been supplied with gas by Stadtwerke Konstanz for years. Some Thurgau Untersee communities also belong to this network and receive their gas from Germany, from B for Berlingen to W for Wagenhausen.
That hasn’t been a problem so far. But now the Germans are raising the price of gas two to three times! The affected Swiss consumers face additional costs of several thousand francs. And that for a single winter!
Stock market price increased by 700 percent
Jakob Fehr (67) received the shocking news a few days ago by letter: he will have to pay twice as much for the gas from October 1st. “It’s steep,” he says to Blick. “As a homeowner, you expect fluctuating additional costs, but not to this extent!”
The German gas supplier shrugs: According to a spokesman for Stadtwerke Konstanz, the market price for one megawatt hour (MWh) of natural gas has risen by more than 700 percent within twelve months.
“Won’t heat the bedroom anymore”
At Lake Constance, there is a risk of an empty wallet or a cold room in winter. Jakob Fehr and his wife will provide thick blankets and warm clothes. “We will probably no longer heat the bedroom and the adjoining rooms,” he says.
Fehr also obtains offers for the installation of a wood stove in order to shorten the heating period. “If we don’t have to start heating with gas until October and can stop once more in March, we’ll save money.”
Empty wallet or cold room
Primary school teacher Anton Serebrjanskiy (29) will also have to pay 100 francs more per month from October to heat his 70 square meter household. “That’s an increase of 100 percent,” he calculates. “If the heating costs rise even more, I’ll have to rethink.” He too may want to use his wood stove more often.
A survey shows that many homeowners in Stein am Rhein are like the teacher and the Fehr couple. Some take it easy and calculate more money, others say they just heat the house to a lower temperature and wear sweaters more often.
The weather will determine
Is Stein am Rhein just the vanguard? Are we all threatened with huge gas bills in the coming months? This question not only concerns homeowners with gas heating, but also politicians and energy companies.
But nobody can answer it at the moment. “There will be no price increase on August 1st,” says Bernese energy supplier EWB, for example. The last time he raised gas prices was in June by 1.64 centimes per kilowatt hour.
“Costs currently stable”
The Lucerne counterpart EWL even says that thanks to a forward-looking procurement strategy that has already secured the gas requirement for 2022, “the energy costs for their customers are currently stable”.
But nobody dares to look further into the future. In particular, the weather will determine the gas price: If the heating season starts early and the winter gets cold, significant price increases are probably inevitable.
Why does Germany pay so much more?
The question remains how it can be that German gas suppliers are already raising prices steeply while everything in Switzerland is still waiting? Here, too, none of those asked want to let themselves out on the branches. The Association of Gas Suppliers points out that Germany has relied almost exclusively on Russian gas, while Switzerland buys the gas on various European trading centers in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy.
And at EWL it says: “If certain gas suppliers in Germany pursue other procurement strategies and procure the gas at short notice, this can have a significant impact on the price.” Sermin Faki
Is Stein am Rhein just the vanguard? Are we all threatened with huge gas bills in the coming months? This question not only concerns homeowners with gas heating, but also politicians and energy companies.
But nobody can answer it at the moment. “There will be no price increase on August 1st,” says Bernese energy supplier EWB, for example. The last time he raised gas prices was in June by 1.64 centimes per kilowatt hour.
“Costs currently stable”
The Lucerne counterpart EWL even says that thanks to a forward-looking procurement strategy that has already secured the gas requirement for 2022, “the energy costs for their customers are currently stable”.
But nobody dares to look further into the future. In particular, the weather will determine the gas price: If the heating season starts early and the winter gets cold, significant price increases are probably inevitable.
Why does Germany pay so much more?
The question remains how it can be that German gas suppliers are already raising prices steeply while everything in Switzerland is still waiting? Here, too, none of those asked want to let themselves out on the branches. The Association of Gas Suppliers points out that Germany has relied almost exclusively on Russian gas, while Switzerland buys the gas on various European trading centers in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy.
And at EWL it says: “If certain gas suppliers in Germany pursue other procurement strategies and procure the gas at short notice, this can have a significant impact on the price.” Sermin Faki
Local provider does not deliver gas
They have no choice but to do anything else. A neighbor of Jakob Fehr from the same district has the energy supplier SH Power, of the city of Schaffhausen heard, asked if he might get the gas there. The answer was sobering: «There is nothing to be done, there are contracts and licenses with the Konstanzer Stadtwerke. A change to us is not possible. »
Corinne Ullmann, Mayor of Stein am Rhein, confirms that she has already received several inquiries regarding gas alternatives. But Gaswerke Konstanz is currently the only energy supplier in the gas sector in the city.
The reason for this is that the gas market in Switzerland is not liberalized, as SH-Power spokesman Marco Nart confirms to Blick: “Basically, only large purchasers can change their provider today, there is an industry agreement for that.” In order to make this possible for smaller end customers as well, a gas supply law is needed first. “But that is not yet in force.”
“The market is liberalized”
In fact, the law is in the offices of Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga (62) in Bern – for two years. Nevertheless, price monitor Stefan Meierhans (53) says when Blick tells him regarding the unsolvable situation in Schaffhausen and Thurgau: “There are still open questions, but they can also be solved without the gas law. Because: Basically, the gas market is liberalized.” This means that all gas customers should be allowed to buy natural gas from another provider.
This is also confirmed by Carole Söhner, Vice Director of the Competition Commission (Weko). “The gas market has been liberalized since 1963,” she says. However, the gas industry has concluded an association agreement that restricts freedoms once more – including, for example, that only consumers over a certain size are allowed to freely choose their provider. “But this agreement is not binding under antitrust law,” says Söhner.
Those affected can only file a lawsuit
In 2020, ComCo fined two central Swiss energy companies CHF 2.6 million because they relied on the industry agreement and excluded a smaller customer. And as Söhner says, that might happen once more. Weko said to the industry in 2013: “If we receive ads, we may have to open procedures.”
The affected gas customers in Schaffhausen and Thurgau would therefore have to sue once morest SH Power’s refusal to supply them. The outcome of the lawsuit is uncertain. And it wouldn’t be decided until winter anyway.
In addition, Marco Nart from SH Power points out that a change would not be worthwhile at the moment anyway. “Because the new provider will then have to buy additional gas – at the current market prices.” Gas would also be significantly more expensive. But that’s cold consolation for Jakob Fehr and Anton Serebrjanskiy.
