Half of consumers are not yet paying higher electricity discounts

Almost half of consumers in Germany (46 percent) do not yet pay any higher discounts for electricity deliveries. This is the result of a representative survey by the credit agency Schufa, which is exclusively available to WELT AM SONNTAG.

The energy suppliers have already increased the advance payments for only one in four customers as a result of the recent price increases. However, 23 percent of consumers voluntarily adjusted the amount. The remaining six percent don't know. A total of 1000 people were interviewed between October 7th and 14th for the representative survey.

A large majority also sees the energy suppliers as responsible. According to this, 81 percent of those surveyed trust that their provider will increase the advance payments for electricity sufficiently to cover consumption.

"Most of the energy price increases should only be felt in the coming months," says Schufa board member Ole Schröder. This will primarily affect the lower income groups. You face high back payments.

The chairwoman of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Ramona Pop, is now calling on the federal government to implement the planned aid measures quickly. "Many are already at the limit of their resilience," said Pop WELT AM SONNTAG. That could quickly pile up to a mountain if countermeasures are not taken with a quick special payment and a fast-acting gas price brake.

The top consumer advocate fears that more people will go into debt as a result of the energy price crisis. "It can't be that people finance their current livelihood through the overdraft facility," said Pop.

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