Drinking water: HSW adjusts prices from 1 January 2025
Significant cost pressure in many areas - Moderate increase
Meschede/Olsberg/Bestwig. A reliable supply of drinking water, the “No. 1 foodstuff” in the best possible quality and at a fair price - for customers of Hochsauerlandwasser GmbH (HSW), this is something they are used to. However, behind this supposedly self-evident fact lies a great deal of effort - in terms of materials, personnel deployment, specialist knowledge and also energy. But because costs are rising in almost all areas, HSW has to adjust its prices at the turn of the year.
The HSW Supervisory Board has therefore decided on new prices as of January 1, 2025 at the suggestion of the Management Board. For HSW customers, this means an average increase of 6.38 percent on the current prices “on balance”. Of course, HSW Managing Director Christoph Rosenau emphasizes that the company does not like to increase sales prices. However, since 2022 in particular, numerous cost components have risen very sharply due to inflation - from material, wage and civil engineering costs to the persistently high energy costs and the rise in capital market interest rates. These are developments that every citizen is also aware of in their personal environment - Christoph Rosenau: “For HSW, too, this means that the drinking water supply is under ever-increasing cost pressure.”
At the same time, we know that customers themselves are also currently having to deal with some considerable financial burdens, says Christoph Rosenau. Against this backdrop, HSW's price adjustment is therefore moderate. The consumer price index for the Federal Republic of Germany has risen by 22.8% for the period from 2016 to the end of 2023. By contrast, HSW's tariff adjustments for drinking water from 2016 to now - including the increase at the beginning of 2025 - amount to just 14.7 percent.
Specifically, the gross consumption price per cubic meter of drinking water will be €1.50 from 1 January 2025. The system price for a building with one residential unit will be 163.22 euros gross; for a building with two residential units, 221.69 euros will be due. In an example calculation, HSW customers who live in a building with one residential unit and have an annual consumption of 150 cubic meters of drinking water would incur additional annual costs of around 24 euros - equivalent to around 2 euros per month.
Incidentally, HSW customers do not need to do anything: the new prices will be applied automatically for the 2025 instalment payments - based on annual consumption in 2024. Interested parties can already find further information on the supplementary conditions and prices applicable from 01.01.2025 on the Internet at www.hochsauerlandwasser.de.