District heating: the public prosecutor’s office examines the prices of the Wuppertal public utilities – economy

The Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (WSW) are particularly striking: Two years ago, it cost district heating around four cents including VAT, now it’s just over 46 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). A price increase of about 1000 percent. The question arises: is that legal or are the district heating prices excessive?

After the Southgerman newspaper and the pool of broadcasting corporations had reported on the case, the Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office is now examining whether proceedings will be initiated, said senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert on request: “The criminal offenses of commercial fraud and subsidy fraud are also included in the examination.” Upon request, the Wuppertaler Stadtwerke also commented on the examination of the public prosecutor’s office: Any investigations “will of course support the WSW fully and transparently,” it said. You do not violate the relevant regulations, the allegation of subsidy fraud is “simply wrong”. If a public prosecutor’s office examines or investigates investigations, it is not yet clear whether violations have actually been committed.

In this case, the examination of a possible commercial fraud refers to the pricing of the Wuppertal district heating. If suppliers want to increase the price for district heating, they have to develop a formula on the basis of which they regularly recalculate the energy prices. In Wuppertal, this energy price is currently 46.35 cents per kWh including VAT. The suppliers must include their costs for the in the price formula energy take into account that these are also based on the actual composition of the district heating. A supplier should therefore not use a cheap fuel for the most part, but bill another, expensive one 100 percent.

accusation “simply wrong”

The Wuppertal Stadtwerke obtain district heating primarily from waste heat from waste incineration. But that doesn’t matter in the formula, which only refers to a gas price index – and prices there rose sharply at the turn of the year. The Wuppertal Stadtwerke justify this by saying that they buy steam from the waste disposal companies and the price for it is also based on the gas price. In addition, suppliers not only have to include their own costs in their price clause, but also the heat prices in Germany, weighted in a similar way. The WSW also orientates itself only on the gas market.

Now it is the case that customers of the Wuppertal Stadtwerke pay only 9.5 cents for the majority of their consumption, not the full energy price of a little more than 46 cents – after all, the energy price brake applies. The state pays the suppliers the difference, in this case it’s about 36.5 cents per kWh. The suspicion of subsidy fraud arises when suppliers collect state money that they may not be entitled to, for example because they have increased prices unjustifiably.

The district heating prices in Wuppertal are not an isolated case, other suppliers have also increased significantly. The consumer center, for example, is examining a model lawsuit against Eon because it believes that the price increases are not legal and is looking for affected customers.

If you use gas heating, you can switch to a cheaper provider, there is competition. District heating customers, on the other hand, do not have this option, the suppliers are monopolists in their region and supply customers who have no alternative heat supply in their rented or owner-occupied apartments. However, district heating also has great advantages: not every house needs its own expensive heating system, but uses the waste heat from a power plant that is produced anyway. This is climate-friendly and is particularly suitable in cities.