Heating and electricity bills for a “normal” Danish family will be a little lower in 2023 than in 2022, according to a new prognosis from Danske Bank.

According to the economic prognosis, the average cost of heating will fall by 100 kroner to 2,400 kroner per month.

Electricity bills will drop from an average of 1,560 kroner per month to 1,330 kroner, a monthly saving of 230 kroner.

The predicted lower prices are due to lower gas prices which are expected in 2023.

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But the first real breathing space in everyday finances for households in Denmark will not be felt until 2024, according to an analyst.

“Although we expect the worsening of families’ finances to slow down during the year, it probably won’t be until next year that we will see a decidedly improved situation in our private economies,” senior economist with Danske Bank Louise Aggerstrøm Hansen wrote in the prognosis.

The bank’s calculations are based on a family consisting of two adults and two children who live in a detached house. Both adults are in full time employment and earned a gross total of 81,154 kroner per month in 2020.

Forecasts for 2024 are significantly more optimistic, with price increases expected to have flattened out by next year.

Heating bills for the hypothetical family in 2024 will be 1,600 per month and electricity will cost 1,080 per month on average, according to the Danske Bank prognosis.

The bank also noted that the disposable income for families is predicted to fall by 0.1 percent this year but fell by far more – 7.4 percent – in 2022.

The negative figure is forecast to be turned around to a positive 8.1 percent increase in 2024.

“That is approximately equivalent to 2022 and 2023 combined but also underlines that there is an outlook towards an overall zero growth over three years to the effective disposable income. That’s a very weak trend historically,” Hansen wrote.