It's hard to know how much your electricity bill will be if you never lived in Germany before. Fortunately, it's very easy to calculate.
One household, two bills
In Germany, you pay two energy bills. Heating and hot water costs are included in your "warm" rent (Warmmiete). You pay this to your landlord every month. The cost of your warm rent is adjusted once a year. If you use more energy, you will get an invoice. If you use less energy, you will get some money back.
For everything else (appliances, lights), you must sign a contract with a power company. You pay them directly for the electricity used by your fridge, washing machine, oven, lights and computer. Use Verivox or Check24 to find a power company.
How much is the Warmmiete?
The warm rent (Warmmiete) includes heating, water, garbage disposal and other things. It's usually between 50 and 200€ a month. The Warmmiete is always visible when you look at apartment listings, so it's easy to estimate. In general, new apartments have better isolation, and are cheaper to heat.
How much is the electric bill?
This depends on how much electricity you use, and how many people you live with. You can estimate 1,500 to 2,000 kWh per person per year1.
Most electric companies charge a base price, plus a fee per kWh. We will use Vattenfall's Easy12 Strom plan as an example. You pay 8.80€ per month, plus 0.26€ per kWh. If you use 125 kWh per month, you would pay 0.26 × 125 + 8.80 = 41.30€ per month.
Your electric bill is based on your estimated usage. You can decide how much you want to pay per month. At the end of the year, if you used more electricity than you paid for, you will get an invoice. If you used less, you will get some money back.
Note: These prices are too low for 2022. Energy prices in Germany are higher because Russia stopped selling natural gas to Germany. This is not a normal situation, so this guide still shows the old prices.
Here's a good amount to pay if you don't know what your consumption will be1, 2:
- 1 person household: 40€ per month
- 2 person household: 65€ per month
How to save money on your electric bill
- Use Verivox or Check24 to find the cheapest power company. Prices are very similar, but you can still save up to 100€ per year.
- Switch to a different power company when your contract is over1. New customer bonuses can save you 50 to 100€ every time you switch.