Network costs for electricity and gas increase: What households 2025 expects

Network costs for electricity and gas increase: What households 2025 expects

From January 1, 2025, households in Austria must adjust to rising costs for electricity and gas. According to the latest proposals from the E-Control regulatory authority, an average increase of 23.1 percent for the network costs for electricity, and 16.6 percent for gas is forecast. These price adjustments are part of the comprehensive revision of the network costs that are published annually in December

The network costs make up about a third of the total energy costs. The rest consists of the actual energy price and various taxes and levies. The E-Control checks the prices proposed by the network operators to ensure that they are appropriate. For many households, the increase in network costs could lead to a doubling or even tripling of several hundred euros annually.

regional differences

The power grid fees in Vienna and Lower Austria are increasing particularly strongly, where they increase by over 30 percent. There is also a significant increase of 29 percent in Styria. From January 2025, the price of the electricity of 11.77 cents per kilowatt hour will be determined in Carinthia, which is significantly higher compared to other regions such as Linz or Vorarlberg. In these latter two regions, the network costs are comparatively moderate.

In the Gas area, on the other hand, the increases are the highest in Upper Austria with 29.4 percent, followed by Burgenland with 21.7 percent and Lower Austria with 21.2 percent. The gas network charges in Vienna are most expensive in Vienna with 2.73 cents per kWh, while they are significantly below in Salzburg and Vorarlberg, with 1.72 and 1.78 cents. In Carinthia, on the other hand, the increase remains the slightest with only 1.5 percent.

background of the price increases

The increase in network fees can be attributed primarily to two factors: on the one hand, the amount of energy is sinks, at the same time the costs for maintaining and expanding the network infrastructure increase. This shows that the increased costs are spread over a falling amount of consumed energy, which leads to higher individual costs for every household.

In addition, there are also changes in taxes. In 2022, the taxes on electricity and gas were reduced due to the energy crisis, but this measure expires at the end of 2024. Without a statutory extension, energy bills 2025 could also continue to increase by leaving the electricity cost subsidy, known as the electricity price brake. The future amount of renewable support contributions remains unclear, since these have been exposed to in recent years.

This situation requires careful observation, since the regulatory authority has an eye on all the necessary adjustments after the existing agreements have expired. A complete overview of the topic and its background is available in further reports, for example on www.salzburg24.at .