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Energy prices for Austrian households were 15.2 percent higher in August than a year earlier. Fuels and heating oil in particular were more expensive. Super cost 24.8 percent more, diesel 21.4 percent more, according to the Energy Price Index (EPI) calculated by the Austrian Energy Agency. There was a price increase of around 7 percent for electricity and gas. Compared with the previous month of July, energy prices rose by 1.4 percent.
Although prices for heating oil were 30.1 percent higher year-on-year, the price increases of recent months came to a halt in August: Compared with the previous month of July, there was even a small drop in heating oil prices of minus 1.0 percent. A tank filling of 3,000 liters cost however still around clearly over 500 euro more than still one year ago.
Unlike gasoline and heating oil, whose prices fell sharply in the corona year 2020 and have since recovered to their previous levels, electricity and natural gas prices would have hardly changed in 2020, but are also pointing upwards this year. The Austrian Electricity Price Index (ÖSPI) for October is 54 percent higher than a year ago, and the Austrian Gas Price Index (ÖGPI) is even 425 percent higher, Herbert Lechner, managing director of the Austrian energy agency.said.
Until now, only household customers with a floater tariff, where price changes are passed on very promptly, had felt these sharp increases in gas. Now however – with Montana – a gas supplier had already announced an increase in price of its standard contract starting from November. “Very often this is used by competitors to follow suit. In addition, the heating season is approaching, in which gas consumption is two to three times as high as in a summer month,” Lechner outlines a possible scenario.
In the case of district heating, household prices remained unchanged compared with the previous month of July, and compared with the previous year, the increase in price remained within limits at 2.6 percent. Wood pellet prices in August were 0.6 percent higher than a year earlier, but did not change compared with the previous month. The price of firewood rose by 3.3 percent over the year and was 0.4 percent higher than in July.
The strong increase in household energy prices of 15.2 percent in August continued to be a key price driver for the inflation rate. The CPI rose 3.2 percent over the year, a 10-year high. Compared with the previous month of July, the PPI rose by 1.4 percent, while general inflation was only 0.1 percent.
- source: k.at/picture: pixabay.com
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