Farmers and consumers currently have to spend far more money on the table to use water than they did four years ago. This is shown by the current figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the “Fees for the drinking water supply in Germany”.
According to this, water prices have risen more sharply in the last four years (from 2018 to 2022) than in the previous 8 years. The average price in 2022 was around 1.83 euros per cubic meter (cbm). In 2018 it was 1.73 euros per cbm and thus 10 cents less. It took water prices from 2010 to 2019 for a price increase of 10 cents.
The Association of Municipal Companies (VKU) justifies the sharp price increase with the consequences of the Ukraine war and Corona, as well as the fact that “the drinking water suppliers and their service providers, industry and the construction trade, have to pay higher energy costs for all their processes. And in order for them to be able to break even, sooner or later they have to pass these additional costs on to consumers.”
However, things are not that simple after all. Because: In the past, the Federal Cartel Office has repeatedly dealt with the “framework conditions of the drinking water supply and the fees of the water suppliers in Germany”. In the process, proceedings were successfully conducted against individual water suppliers for abusively excessive prices.
It is also a fact that there are very large regional price differences. According to official data, the price range for usage-based charges (basic fee + usage) ranges from EUR 1.43 in Lower Saxony to EUR 2.33 in Baden-Württemberg. So that would be a difference of 63% and means considerable additional costs, especially for the dairy farmers and livestock farmers living in “the expensive regions”. Of course also for normal consumers and commercial water users.
Set the water price the water utility himself firmly. In this context, the pipe network, the origin of the water and its quality play a role. The place of residence has a major influence on the costs. Irrespective of the type of company, the remuneration structure of municipal companies is subject to control by local politicians.
It is also interesting that on average only 25 percent of the supply costs depend on the actual consumption of drinking water by the consumer, while the provision of the infrastructure leads to a fixed cost share of around 75 percent, according to the VKU.