German Household Electricity Prices Reach New Record High In 2021…Share Of Green Electricity Falls!

The German Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW) recently presented the latest 2021 Energy Supply Annual Report as a PowerPoint presentation.

New record high price for electricity

In the presentation, slide no. 55 depicts the average household electricity costs in euro-cents per kilowatt-hour, for a home consuming 3500 kwh annually.

Electricity price [euro-cents] per kwh for average German household. Source: BDEW.

2021 saw a record price for households: 32.16 euro-cents per kilowatt-hour. It was the sixth year in a row with an increase. Electricity in 2021 costs double what it cost 20 years ago. Much of the price increase over the past two decades are the result of the EEG renewable energies feed-in act.

Share of green electricity falls from 46% to 42%!

Slide 36 shows two pie charts comparing the share of electricity coming from renewable energies for 2021 and 2020:

Only 42% of Germany’s electricity was generated by green energies in 2021. Source: BDEW .

Share of green electricity drops in 2021

It was a bad year for electricity generated by renewable energies like wind and sun. The chart above shows that the share of electricity generated by green energies fell from 46% in 2020 to 42% in 2021. Once again the majority of power was generated by the conventional sources of coal, nuclear and other fossil fuels.

2021 was also the first time in 22 years that the total power generation by green energies fell. In 2021, only 238 billion kwh of energy were produced compared to 250 billion kwh in 2020. In 2019, 241 billion kwh were produced.

Unstable power grid

Yet, this is not stopping Germany from moving ahead full speed to shut down a large number of conventional plants in the years ahead in a bid to go green. Experts are increasingly warning that Europe’s power grid is becoming increasingly unstable and that major blackouts are inevitable.

Large blackout in Berlin

Just two days ago, 90,000 households in Berlin went without electricity and heating for some 30 hours. Hot water supply was also interrupted.