Advance payments for gas and electricity have been increased significantly?

This is often not allowed

Created: 10/25/2022, 7:30 p.m

By: Andrea Stettner

Many electricity and gas providers are currently sending out letters with partly sharply increased advance payments.

But not every increase is allowed.

The increased energy prices mean that many suppliers of electricity and gas are currently raising their prices - sometimes even drastically.

This leads to increased advance payments for consumers, which are paid monthly to the provider.

Consumer concerns are therefore high.

But what many do not know: Not every increase is allowed.

Price increases only allowed if no price guarantees apply

According to the

, providers are usually always allowed to increase their prices if cost factors increase and price increases have been contractually excluded, i.e. a price guarantee applies.

But it is precisely with the latter that mistakes tend to happen.

Providers often do not inform their customers, not correctly or too late.

"Or the terms and conditions provide for price changes, but the price change clause is ineffective - and thus also the price increase based on it," says the

center .

The advance payments for gas and electricity are currently being drastically increased - to the chagrin of consumers.

© Shotshop/Imago

Anyone who receives a price increase should therefore first take a close look at their documents: “If you notice a price change (e.g. in the annual bill), you should always check your documents or the notification from the supplier carefully to see whether you have received a corresponding letter have,” the consumer experts advise.

Caution: discounts are often set much too high

Consumers not only have to be careful with price guarantees.

It also often happens that providers apply far too high discounts that cannot be justified with the current price increases.

However, this is not always permissible: "Deductions must reflect the last annual consumption or be based on comparable customers," says the consumer advice center.

In addition, consumption is often not read off by providers, but rather estimated generously - this is also rarely permissible.  

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To check whether your deduction is realistic, multiply your annual consumption in kilowatt hours by the current electricity or gas price per kilowatt hour.

Then add the base rate for the whole year and divide by 12 months.

If the new advance payment is significantly too high in comparison, the consumer advice center advises contacting the energy supplier and requesting an adjustment.

Please never simply shorten without consultation - otherwise there is a risk of interest on arrears.

If the prices are too high, it is worth asking the basic supplier

Irrespective of this, you have a special right of termination with every price increase.

However, it is questionable whether other providers are currently cheaper.

In this case, it is worth contacting the local basic supplier in your region (usually the municipal utility).

According to

, these will still offer comparatively cheap electricity and gas tariffs in 2022, as long-term purchases have been made here.

Switching to the basic supplier is currently often the cheapest option.