BERLIN/WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) - For electricity and gas prices, energy market experts continue to see signs of a slight easing, especially for new customers. "We expect prices for new customers to continue to fall in the coming weeks," said energy managing director Steffen Suttner of comparison portal Check24 to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Thursday. The development remains however dependent on the world-political events as well as the filling levels of the gas storages. A prognosis is difficult.

The comparison portal Verivox comes to a similar assessment: "If no unforeseen crises occur, the average electricity prices for new customers should remain favorable in the coming months," said Verivox spokesman Lundquist Neubauer. The new customer price is currently on average 36.1 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity and 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour of gas and thus far below the price cap of the price brakes of 40 cents (electricity) and 12 cents (gas).

The energy market expert Mirko Schlossarczyk of the consulting firm Enervis refers to the developments in wholesale. "For the wholesale price of electricity, we currently see a slight price decline for the coming months." He cites a seasonal decline in electricity demand, predicted lower gas-fired power generation with constant gas prices, and an expected increase in solar power feed-in as reasons. In addition, the situation at the French nuclear power plants is currently relaxed, so that there is no foreseeable threat of bottlenecks.

Schlossarczyk also sees stable conditions for gas prices in the wholesale sector: "Winter should be over, heating demand is falling, gas storage facilities are full to an above-average level, and the risk of a gas shortage has been averted for the time being." The supply situation for liquefied natural gas in Europe is also currently quite good, he said, due to supply expansions in the USA and still restrained gas demand in Asia.

The expert therefore considers a decline or at least a firming of end customer prices to be possible. "In particular, new customer contracts seem interesting, since the recent price declines for electricity and gas are generally more clearly reflected in new contracts."

Also with the basic supply tariffs something does itself - however in both directions: "For March and April we have at present 35 price reductions around on the average 16 per cent from local current basic suppliers , explained Verivox. In the same period, however, there were also 26 price increases averaging 48 percent. "For gas, we currently have 48 price reductions by an average of 21 percent," Verivox reported. In the same period, there are 5 price increases of an average of 34 percent, he said.

"Although the first basic suppliers are lowering their prices in the coming months, this development is not yet nationwide," Lundquist said. He explains the different price developments as follows: "Many existing and basic suppliers are only now passing on the high costs of the energy crisis to their customers. New customer tariffs, on the other hand, are often calculated in the short term, based on current market prices."

Savings could be made above all by households that are supplied in the basic supply. "This was often the cheapest alternative last year, but now there are again significantly better offers." Verivox pointed out in this connection that the local basic supply tariff could be terminated with a notice period of two weeks.

How much energy has become more expensive on a broad front in a year-on-year comparison was made clear on Thursday by figures from the Federal Statistical Office. Importers paid 24.3 percent more for gas in January than a year earlier, while petroleum products were 14.6 percent more expensive. The import of electricity became more expensive by 45.7 percent.

Household energy became more expensive in January by a total of 36.5 percent, as the Wiesbaden-based authority had already reported on Wednesday. For example, consumers had to pay 51.7 percent more for natural gas than in January 2022. Light heating oil became more expensive by 30.6 percent. Electricity cost 25.7 percent more, despite electricity price brake and elimination of the EEG levy.

At the gas stations, however, there were signs of an easing. Gasoline and diesel recently cost about as much as they did shortly before Russia's attack on Ukraine, as the Wiesbaden-based authority reported with regard to data from mid-February./mar/DP/zb