Bell sign at the official headquarters of Stromio and Gas.de in Kaarst on the Lower Rhine
Photo:
Henning Kaiser / picture alliance / dpa
The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf has initiated preliminary investigations in connection with the termination of electricity and gas customers by entrepreneur Ömer Varol.
A spokeswoman for the agency confirmed this to SPIEGEL.
It is about the electricity supplier Stromio, the gas discounter Gas.de and the Grünwelt brand.
These companies sent termination letters to hundreds of thousands of customers in December 2021 and stopped deliveries.
Its managing director is the 51-year-old Düsseldorf businessman Varol.
"In connection with the terminations by gas and electricity providers," the public prosecutor's office had "a criminal complaint," said the spokeswoman.
The initial suspicion will now be examined.
The public prosecutor's office did not provide any information on a possible criminal charge.
The three energy discounters officially based in Kaarst had unilaterally canceled the supply of electricity and gas to hundreds of thousands of consumers in Germany - and transferred them to the often much more expensive basic supply against their will.
For customers, this forced switch can mean additional costs of hundreds, if not thousands, of euros per year.
Steffi Lemke's Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection speaks of "breach of contract".
Varol's companies justified the mass expulsion with an "unprecedented price explosion on the European energy trading centers" that "could not have been foreseen".
According to SPIEGEL information, the Federal Network Agency is investigating the suspicion that Varol's companies have sold their gas and electricity wholesale at top prices in recent weeks and then terminated the end customers with their much cheaper contracts.
As SPIEGEL research shows, Stromio GmbH, which also owns the Grünwelt brand, and Gas.de Versorgungsgesellschaft mbH have generated profits in the hundreds of millions over the years: more than 380 million euros between 2014 and 2019 alone.
The two companies had at most 36 permanent employees on average in 2019.
The sole owner of Stromio and Gas.de is Callax Holding GmbH, which is also managed by Varol and has its registered office in Monheim am Rhein. According to the transparency register, Varol owns 100 percent of its capital shares.
Consumers can fight back
However, state authorities seem to have doubts about this.
According to a register extract from January 12, 2022, an "examination according to § 23a GwG", the Money Laundering Act, is running.
DER SPIEGEL repeatedly asked Ömer Varol about this in writing.
So far no answer.
Consumer advocates advise customers who have been thrown out by Gas.de, Grünwelt and Stromio to defend themselves - and to demand further delivery or compensation from the providers.
