German consumers to pay more for gas heating as VAT returns to 19%
German consumers are facing higher gas prices starting on Monday, as a temporary reduction in a key consumption tax expired on Sunday, energy experts said.
The change "will suddenly increase the price of gas by 11%," said Thorsten Storck, energy expert at the comparison website Verivox.
Steffen Suttner, managing director for energy at the comparison website Check24, also said that the elimination of the reduction will significantly increase energy costs for consumers starting in April.
The government lowered the 19% value added tax (VAT) in October 2022 to 7% in order to cushion the effects of Russia's war on Ukraine and subsequent rise in gas prices, causing people's heating bills to increase.
"The state must not benefit from the fact that life is becoming more expensive for people," Finance Minister Christian Lindner said at the time.
The tax reduction was limited from the start and was set to expire on Sunday, but a law passed by the Bundestag called for it to expire at the end of February. The original deadline of March 31 was then agreed to again through a parliamentary mediation committee between Germany's two houses of parliament, the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
According to calculations from the consumer website Check24, a single person with a consumption of 5,000 kilowatt hours would have to pay €52 ($56) more now that the tax has returned to 19%.
