Price differences between Germany and Austria

[Tender Branson]

If you ever come or live in Austria or Germany, you will probably notice the big price differences in various areas of daily life:

For example, in Austria the monthly mobile phone prices are one of the lowest in the EU. You can get a monthly plan with 1000 free minutes, 1000 messages and unlimited internet for 10€ (12$).

The same thing in Germany costs about 50-70$ a month.

On the fuel side, we are cheaper again by about 20 cents per liter.

On the other hand, car insurance is very cheap in Germany with monthly prices of about half of those here. For example, for my car I have to pay 1500€ a year for the Vollkasko (fully comprehensive insurance), whereas in Germany I'd have to pay only about 800€.

Electronic articles are also cheaper in Germany then here, but I guess groceries are about the same price. What about internet ? You can get internet starting at 5€ per month for 3 gigabytes and unlimited internet for 10€.

Probably has to do with the fact that there's a bigger market in Germany, but if so, why are the mobile phone plans so much more expensive then ?

What about Switzerland ? And the US ? Canada ? Australia, UK ?

[Tender Branson]

Prices in the City of Salzburg for apartment rents are about as high as in Munich, basically about 12-18€ per m².

Which translates to about 700-900€ for a 50m² apartment (often without cost of operation).

The prices where I live are closer to 10€/m², even though prices in and around Zell am See have risen dramatically in the past years and are now approaching Salzburg City levels, because so many foreigners buy secondary apartments here which drive up prices. Some towns are now forbidding secondary flats to wealthy foreigners such as Dutch or German people to keep prices under control.

[Tender Branson]

Electricity is once again cheaper here than in Germany:

http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic-Elec

The water price is roughly 1.44€ per m³, which is also slightly lower than in Germany.

[Tender Branson]

The water price is roughly 1.44€ per m³, which is also slightly lower than in Germany.

Water?
We pay a tax of 175$/year for water in my city, but nothing else.

You have the benefit of living in a country that is about 10 Million km² big with vast rivers and so on. And only 35 Million people there. Of course, water isn't much of a problem there. (Not that it is a big problem here either, but the EU and the market is behind a lot of the prices too, so you cannot really go a lot below the EU average price here ...)