New trouble about Stromio: public prosecutors are investigating against electricity discounters

Created: 01/25/2022, 17:34

The cessation of deliveries to the energy customers of the low-cost providers Stromio, Grünwelt and Gas.de may have legal repercussions.

© Henning Kaiser/dpa

Did the energy discounter Stromio sell gas and electricity at top prices instead of fulfilling customer contracts?

The prosecutor is investigating.

Düsseldorf – The cessation of deliveries to hundreds of thousands of energy customers from the low-cost providers* Stromio, Grünwelt and Gas.de may have legal consequences: the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office opened preliminary investigations in this regard, as reported by

on Tuesday.

In connection with the terminations there is a criminal complaint, an initial suspicion is now being examined, a spokeswoman for the authorities told the magazine.

The public prosecutor's office did not provide any information on a specific allegation.

Did Stromio sell gas and electricity at top prices instead of fulfilling customer contracts?

According to the report, instead of fulfilling the contracts with their customers, the companies are said to have sold their electricity and gas wholesale at top prices.

According to

the Federal Network Agency is investigating

a corresponding suspicion

.

Consumers whose electricity and gas supplies were terminated then switched to substitute and basic supplies and in some cases had to pay significantly higher prices for their energy supplies.

The managing director of all three companies is the Düsseldorf businessman Ömer V., the companies are based in Kaarst in Lower Saxony.

The company is owned by Callax Holding GmbH, which is also managed by V., according to Spiegel.

According to the report, however, there are doubts about the ownership structure, and this company is also under investigation for possible violations of the Money Laundering Act.

380 million euros profit for the two energy discounters Stromio and Gas.de

Between 2014 and 2019, the two energy discounters Stromio and Gas.de are said to have made more than 380 million euros in profit.

Both companies had an average of only 36 permanent employees in 2019.

At the end of December, electricity provider Stromio, with its brands Stromio and Grünwelt Energie, stopped delivering without warning.

Stromio had been “confronted with an unprecedented price explosion on the European energy trading centers for a few weeks,” the company explained on its website at the time.

The company had advertised “electricity at a discount price”*.