Berlin With a legal reform, the federal government wants to put a stop to short-term terminations of electricity and gas contracts by cheap suppliers and price jumps. “We must not leave consumers out in the rain again,” said Oliver Krischer (Greens), Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, the German Press Agency in Berlin. “It was and is a great burden for many people and a great shock to suddenly find a cancellation from the gas or electricity provider in the mailbox.”
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had already announced at the Handelsblatt Energy Summit on Tuesday that he wanted to regulate low-cost electricity and gas providers more strictly. According to the Vice Chancellor, speculation by suppliers on “ever-low prices” on the electricity exchange is “not a resilient business model”. The system must at least become more transparent.
Specifically, Krischer announced that there should be uniform tariffs in the basic service in the future, so that new customers do not pay twice or three times as much as existing customers. “Split basic service tariffs are ultimately just an unnecessary employment program for courts, which we want to avoid.” Split tariffs mean a split for new and existing customers.
In addition, the termination of gas or electricity deliveries should in future have to be announced several months in advance so that consumers can look for a new supplier in peace, says Krischer.
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The ministry wants to react to the fact that many low-cost providers have experienced turbulence and thousands of contracts have been terminated. These consumers then fall into the so-called replacement supply with the basic supplier of the respective municipality – but according to the consumer centers often have to pay significantly more.
“There is a need for action,” said Krischer. “We therefore want to raise the hurdles for delivery stops and put the instrument of basic and replacement care on a new footing.”
The ministry will also make suggestions as to how the Federal Network Agency can better filter out dubious competitors. “The fact that around one million gas and electricity customers are terminated within a very short time must not be repeated.”
More expensive tariffs for new customers inadmissible
Consumers would have to pay up to 1654 euros more per year for new customer tariffs than existing customers, according to a position paper by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations. Some basic suppliers, who have previously purchased electricity or gas for their customers for a longer period of time and, in view of the current price increases, feel compelled to buy additional energy earlier than planned on the spot market at significantly higher prices due to the increased number of new customers.
As a result, some basic suppliers have switched to distinguishing between new and existing customers and supplying new customers at more expensive tariffs. From the point of view of the consumer advice centers, however, this is legally inadmissible, dangerous for fair competition and also incomprehensible.
According to information from the consumer advice centers, there are already seven warnings nationwide and one threat due to the cessation of electricity supplies, the termination of contracts or extreme price increases. Further warnings are planned.
It was said from circles in the Ministry of Economics that concrete proposals for adjustments to the Energy Industry Act would now be quickly drawn up in close cooperation with the Ministry of Consumer Protection. It is about more protection for consumers through clear notice periods before deliveries are stopped and about improvements in the regulations for alternative supply and basic supply.
There is basic agreement among the responsible actors that there is a need for regulation after the large energy suppliers have stopped supplying electricity and gas. In addition to the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, the actors are the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection, the Federal Network Agency and the Federal Cartel Office.
Also opposition voices for regulation of the energy market
Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) told the dpa: “The federal government is monitoring the behavior of market players very closely and is examining possible regulatory steps.”
There are also voices from the opposition for more regulation of the energy market. The Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” (Monday) that there was a serious energy crisis in Germany. “That’s why I’m calling for a federal-state summit that decides on a concrete action plan.” This must include state regulation for cheap and basic service providers in order to prevent “excesses”.
The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management had protected the basic suppliers. After the energy discounters stopped delivering, the suppliers would have had to buy additional electricity or gas quantities overnight from energy trading for the customers concerned.
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