Fewer people in Germany were cut off due to outstanding payments last year. Last year, according to the Federal Network Agency, there were 296,000 power outages, about ten percent less than in 2017, when there were still 330,000 power outages. This is shown in an excerpt from the monitoring report of the Federal Network Agency.
These drastic measures accounted for 0.6 percent of all electricity connections. One reason for the decline in the power locks called the authority. Therefore, it is not clear whether more affected electricity customers were willing to pay.
In the case of gas, the network operators turned off the supply to 33,000 households. That was a significant decrease of about 5,000.
More "blocking threats"
The number of so-called blocking threats was slightly higher at 4.9 million, compared to 4.8 million in 2017. However, this number is only of limited informative value: some power companies are threatening to turn off the electricity very quickly - often even when customers have already paid.
Who actually flutters once a threat of arrest, does not necessarily have to rush into a hustle and bustle. Because an interruption of electricity or gas supply may be carried out at the earliest four weeks after such a threat - who pays in the meantime, is not in the dark. The blocking date must be communicated to the customer three working days before.