Expensive power to the people

Wouldn't it be nice if you could buy your electricity at the electricity exchange?
1 MWh (1 Megawatt hour) for the peak usage time between 7 and 8 PM only sets you back about 64 Euros on the EPEX Spot market.

Which is about what my utility company charges for 200 KWh every month.

For 64 Euros, I could light up the whole county and have enough power left over for a gorgeous Christmas display.

Electricity prices for residential customers in Germany can drive you to tears.

Note: dry off those tears with a cloth towel but do not put the wet towel in a dryer. Air dry only to avoid even more tears from the dryer's power usage.

Big industry can buy their juice at the electricity exchange, the same as our utility company.
The prices they pay are, according to the good google, as low as last seen in 2005, while residential prices have gone up by about 30% since 2008.

The folks who make a living complaining about Germany's push to renewables have their culprit in the form of the fee every small customer pays with the monthly bill to subsidize wind and solar.

Even though this fee is not paid by the really heavy consumers, because the government wants to keep German industry competitive, they cry wolf every October when the next hike of the fee is announced.

The egregiously low prices at the electricity exchange?

Ignored.

The fact that from next year, folks like us will be at 30 Euro cents for each kilowatt hour?

Business as usual.

At least you can now understand why they keep The light bulbs in the safe for special offer week at out local super market.