Consumers face additional costs of 1,654 euros

three-phase meter

Many low-cost providers have experienced turbulence and have canceled thousands of contracts.

(Photo: dpa)

Berlin Because some low-cost energy providers no longer deliver due to increased prices, some consumers are faced with high burdens. The problem: Due to the short-term termination of their supply contracts, the affected electricity and gas customers often find themselves in the more expensive basic supply.

This is shown by a study by the Federation of Consumer Organizations (VZBV). According to this, consumers with new customer tariffs currently have to shoulder annual additional costs of between 889 and 1654 euros compared to existing customers. This means that new customers with an average power consumption of 3500 kilowatt hours (kWh) pay more than twice as much as existing customers with two energy suppliers (Frankfurt/Main, Leipzig).

But there is another way. According to the study, in two cities (Bremen, Stuttgart) the basic electricity suppliers have lowered their prices slightly. In seven cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf, Essen, Hanover, Nuremberg) they remained almost stable. The basic service tariffs of the 14 most populous cities in Germany were examined from January 12 to 17, 2022.

“There is a suspicion that some providers want to unilaterally pass on their costs to new customers. The excessive tariffs are incomprehensible to us,” said Thomas Engelke, head of the Energy and Construction team at VZBV.

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A similar picture emerges in the gas sector. In half (Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt/Main, Leipzig, Dortmund, Essen, Dresden) of the 14 cities surveyed, the basic gas suppliers have introduced a separate tariff for new customers. According to the VZBV, this results in additional costs of 1118 to 3802 euros per year for an average household (20,000 kWh) for new customers.

Federal government is considering new rules for the electricity market

Engelke considers it unacceptable that numerous electricity and gas suppliers have withdrawn from the market despite contractual agreements and unilaterally stopped supplying their customers. This “two-tier system” is wrong because it undermines competition.

From Engelke’s point of view, some low-cost suppliers of electricity and gas “obviously opted for a short-sighted business model” and thus failed to live up to their responsibility towards their customers. “But that was also possible because the transparency obligations and the regulation were not sufficient,” said the VZBV expert.

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The consumer advocates now see politics as having a duty to make consumer protection on the energy market more crisis-proof. Consumers should not foot the bill for these “dubious business models and poor market regulation”.

Federal Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) announced that new rules for the electricity market would be examined. “The federal government is monitoring the behavior of market players very closely and is examining possible regulatory steps,” said Lemke.

Nationwide, seven warnings against energy suppliers

“We are currently dealing with price surcharges that are driving up the price of electricity to up to 90 cents per kilowatt hour,” said the minister. This can in no way be justified by what is happening on the market. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had previously announced that the liberalized gas and electricity markets would be reviewed.

However, the VZBV warned against legalizing tariff increases through an amendment to the Energy Industry Act. Unregulated prices for basic services should not skyrocket. “Should the federal government decide to do so, protective mechanisms such as time limits, price caps and an obligation to justify the supervisory authorities would have to be introduced in order to rule out arbitrariness and uncontrolled growth,” explained Engelke.

According to information from the consumer advice centers, there are now seven warnings nationwide and one threat due to the cessation of electricity supplies, the termination of contracts or extreme price increases – five of them in North Rhine-Westphalia alone. Further warnings are being planned, it said.

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In the meantime, the federal government and the coalition factions are considering granting certain relief for electricity customers earlier. That said SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich in Berlin. He cited the EEG surcharge and targeted aid as examples. Actually, the SPD, Greens and FDP did not want to reform the financing of the EEG surcharge until January 1, 2023.

More: Minister Lemke considers the situation on the energy market to be dramatic – “Termination of electricity contracts are sometimes illegal”

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