Price chaos for electricity and gas: Cheap providers are terminating their contracts a thousand times over - also in Nuremberg

Created: 01/13/2022, 4:12 pm

At the moment there are always problems with cheap electricity and gas providers.

© Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa / symbol image

Cheap providers of electricity and gas are currently terminating consumers' contracts en masse - mostly illegally.

Read here what those affected can do.

Nuremberg - Hundreds of thousands of households have received a shock message from their electricity or gas provider in the past few weeks.

"We are unfortunately forced to stop your supply at short notice," it said.

Around 40 providers such as Stromio or Gas.de terminated consumers' contracts.

Hundreds of thousands of customers are likely to be affected by Stromio alone, explains Marion Gaksch from the Bavarian Consumer Center.

10,600 of them live in the Nuremberg area *.

Nuremberg: Cheap providers fear rising market prices

Customers of energy discounters, which are known for their particularly low tariffs, are most frequently affected.

The energy does not come from them, they just act with it.

With the terminations, they apparently want to protect themselves from the rapidly rising market prices, reports

. 

However, customers don't have to worry about suddenly being in a cold or dark apartment.

If the provider stops delivering, consumers are initially taken care of by the basic supplier.

These are mostly the municipal utilities.

The change takes place automatically without you having to do anything. 

(By the way: our Nuremberg newsletter regularly informs you about all the important stories from the Franconian metropolis. Register here.)

Nuremberg: Controversial tariff increases - short-term terminations mostly illegal

"Of course we take our mission in the sense of public services and ensure a seamless supply," says Josef Hasler, CEO of N-Ergie to

. Like Infra Fürth * and Erlanger * Stadtwerke, the company has not introduced a higher tariff for new customers. In contrast to 300 other basic electricity suppliers, some of whom have raised their prices significantly. A controversial approach, says Marion Gaksch from the consumer advice center. There is no clear legal basis for this: "We do not consider it permissible."

In the case of short-term cancellations of electricity and gas, the situation is clearer.

These are likely to be illegal in most cases.

For electricity or gas contracts, a regular notice period applies to the end of the contract period.

In the current cases, the providers have largely not complied with this.

“The providers are actually only allowed to issue such terminations in the event of bankruptcy.

Or if the network operator has canceled the deliveries themselves.

Other possibilities are hardly conceivable, ”explains Marion Gaksch.

"Even if a consumer is in default with the payments, the provider is not immediately entitled to a block."

Nuremberg: Affected customers should do that 

In many cases, the customers are left behind, as the tariffs of the basic providers are usually higher.

The consumer can therefore ask the provider who cancels to compensate for this damage.

The consumer association recommends that this is best possible through an arbitration board.

“The chances are also very good with legal representation.

But the question is whether it will pay off, ”explains Gaksch.

On the Internet you can often find the tip to have at least the last direct debit posted back to your account.

But that's not a good idea, says Marion Gaksch.

As a result, the customer is legally in default.

New problems are inevitable.

Nuremberg: Quickly cancel standing orders

Instead, you should revoke the standing order or the direct debit authorization with the old provider as soon as possible and look for a new contract.

The basic provider may also offer a cheaper tariff.

If you want to switch to a cheaper provider, you should find out more about the company.

Tips for changing can be found on the website

.