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 ?

[dead0man]

Mobile prices in the US are all over the map, but certainly closer to Germany than Austria.

Fuel is quite a bit cheaper.

Car insurance varies even more than cell phones.  State, age, sex, brand of car, color of car, options on car, local humidity, lunar cycles and the current price of donkeys in the Central African Republic all play a part in the price.

Internet is quite a bit more expensive here.

[Gustaf]

My general impression is that Austria is considerably more expensive than Germany. Of course, location is important in Germany. Berlin is really cheap since it's so poor.

[Franzl]

Fuel costs slightly over €1,70/Liter here. (~$8.50/gallon)

Car insurance is relatively cheap, as Tender says. I'm 22 years old and already only pay €500 a year for liability and Teilkasko.

Cell phones, again as Tender says, are indeed expensive. 49€ a month is my base rate.

Food is very cheap. I'm unaware of any Western country with cheaper grocery prices. The U.S. is quite a bit higher.

Beer is cheap! Where a 6-pack of cheap Bud in the U.S. costs..oh...$6 and the good stuff (Sam Adams and better) costs $7-8+, you get big boxes of 20 half-liter bottles here for €10-15.

[Franzl]

That said, neither Germans/Austrians nor Americans should be complaining about cost of living. I've seen the prices in Scandinavia and I've read about them in Australia...

[dead0man]

Americans living in Alaska and Hawaii have a high cost of living, but that's a small percentage of Americans.  Some of our big cities are kind of expensive too....at least for some things.

[opebo]

Berlin is really cheap since it's so poor.

Curious - what's rent on a cheap basic-but-livable studio apartment in Berlin?  That is, located not in a totally abysmal area.

I do remember from my last trips to Germany and Austria that both were much cheaper than Switzerland and seemed slightly cheaper than France, but more or less comparable with the USA.  It hard to remember and of course I was a tourist and unlikely to get a very accurate picture.

[Franzl]

Berlin is really cheap since it's so poor.

Curious - what's rent on a cheap basic-but-livable studio apartment in Berlin?  That is, located not in a totally abysmal area.

I do remember from my last trips to Germany and Austria that both were much cheaper than Switzerland and seemed slightly cheaper than France, but more or less comparable with the USA.  It hard to remember and of course I was a tourist and unlikely to ghet a very accurate picture.

Berlin is probably between 7-8€ per sq. meter . So about $0.90 per sq. foot per month.

Munich, in comparison, is about double that. 14€/sq. meter, or around $1.70 per sq. foot.

[opebo]

Berlin is probably between 7-8€ per sq. meter . So about $0.90 per sq. foot per month.

Munich, in comparison, is about double that. 14€/sq. meter, or around $1.70 per sq. foot.

I have no idea what that means.  How much for a typical poor single person's abode?

[Franzl]

Berlin is probably between 7-8€ per sq. meter . So about $0.90 per sq. foot per month.

Munich, in comparison, is about double that. 14€/sq. meter, or around $1.70 per sq. foot.

I have no idea what that means.  How much for a typical poor single person's abode?

Depends what you consider adequate for one person? 1-2 rooms in a typical appartment building a little further outside of the city center of Berlin? Calculate at least 300-400€ in Berlin. ($390-$520)

[ZuWo]

Berlin is probably between 7-8€ per sq. meter . So about $0.90 per sq. foot per month.

Munich, in comparison, is about double that. 14€/sq. meter, or around $1.70 per sq. foot.

I have no idea what that means.  How much for a typical poor single person's abode?

Depends what you consider adequate for one person? 1-2 rooms in a typical appartment building a little further outside of the city center of Berlin? Calculate at least 300-400€ in Berlin. ($390-$520)

Triple that and you get close to the average rent for such an apartment in Zurich. More and more people are forced to move out of the city because city life is becoming increasingly unaffordable.

[Franzl]

Well the price I indicated is a good deal of money in Berlin.

But again, prices in the south, especially Munich, get much higher. Albeit certainly not at Swiss levels.

[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.

[greenforest32]

How about water and electricity utility rates?

Like in terms of price per unit used (per kWh, per gallon liter?) and the average monthly bill.

[Franzl]

How about water and electricity utility rates?

Like in terms of price per unit used (per kWh, per gallon liter?) and the average monthly bill.

Average water price in Germany: €1.73 per 1000 liters ($2.26).

Average electricity price in Germany: €0.257 per kwh, so 34 cents US per kwh.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

One of the most absurd things in the entire universe is that The Irish Times, one of the major two newspapers in the Republic of Ireland, is actually cheaper in Northern Ireland than it is in the country it is produced and where the vast majority of its target audience live. Now, granted, the IT does have a bit of reputation for being pro-unionist but....

[dead0man]

How about water and electricity utility rates?

Like in terms of price per unit used (per kWh, per gallon liter?) and the average monthly bill.

In Omaha you pay a base of $9/month and then 10 cents/kwh in the summer and ~9 cents/kwh in the winter (it gets cheaper per hour the more you use in the winter).  I'm not sure about water...it's combined with trash, sewage and gas and it's still usually much cheaper than the electric bill.

[greenforest32]

How about water and electricity utility rates?

Like in terms of price per unit used (per kWh, per gallon liter?) and the average monthly bill.

In Omaha you pay a base of $9/month and then 10 cents/kwh in the summer and ~9 cents/kwh in the winter (it gets cheaper per hour the more you use in the winter).  I'm not sure about water...it's combined with trash, sewage and gas and it's still usually much cheaper than the electric bill.

Yeah, it's about the same here.

How about water and electricity utility rates?

Like in terms of price per unit used (per kWh, per gallon liter?) and the average monthly bill.

Average water price in Germany: €1.73 per 1000 liters ($2.26).

Average electricity price in Germany: €0.257 per kwh, so 34 cents US per kwh.

Wow

That's relatively expensive electricity rates, at least to me. My utility, the most expensive one in the state, is about 10 US cents per kWh for the first 4-600kWh a month or so. Probably the difference between sources (lots of large scale hydro here) and the emission trading/feed-in tariff but is there also large taxes embedded in that rate?

I know our gas taxes are very low compared to the EU countries' but is it the same for electricity taxes? The tax here is usually a small flat fee (less than $10/month) or a 1-5% charge against the gross bill dedicated to specific programs.

[MaxQue]

In Québec, that is 5.32cents/kWh (1US$=1Canadian$, roughly, right now) for the 30 first kWh each day and 7.51cent for the other ones. Add to that a fee of 41cents by day.

Apparently, it is one of the cheapest of the world, they say.

[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.

[MaxQue]

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.

[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 ...)