Electricity & gas in Germany: your rights

The market

Every household can choose its electricity and gas supplier. If you have no contract of your own, the local default supplier (Grundversorger) supplies you automatically.

Energy regulator

Bundesnetzagentur (Verbraucherservice Energie)

Dispute resolution

Schlichtungsstelle Energie e. V. · free

First send a written complaint to the company, marked 'Verbraucherbeschwerde nach § 111a EnWG'. It must answer within 4 weeks. If it does not reply or refuses, you can apply for free mediation.

Switching supplier

Switching is free. The new supplier usually handles everything, including cancelling your old contract (with your authorisation). Since 6 June 2025 the technical electricity switch takes 24 hours on any working day, but your contract's notice periods still apply.

Price rises

Suppliers must tell household customers about a price change at least one month before it applies (default supply: public notice and letter at least six weeks ahead). You can usually cancel without notice, effective the day before the new price.

Regulated price

Not a state-set price: the local default supplier sets 'general prices' and must publish them. Anyone moving in or without a contract gets default supply and can leave it any time with two weeks' notice.

Help if money is tight

There is no special social energy tariff. If you cannot pay, ask your supplier for an instalment plan; default-supply customers facing cut-off can have the supplier contact the social welfare office.

Protection against cut-off

Cut-off only if you owe at least twice the monthly instalment and at least €100. It must be threatened in writing at least 4 weeks ahead and announced again 8 working days before. Not allowed if it endangers life or health. Rules revised December 2025.

If your supplier goes bust

If your supplier goes bust, the lights stay on: the local default supplier takes over under 'Ersatzversorgung' for up to three months. Choose a new contract soon, as this supply is often more expensive.

Power cut

For a power cut, call the fault number (Störungsnummer) of your local grid operator (Netzbetreiber), not your supplier. Germany has over 800 grid operators; the number is on the operator's website and often on your bill.

Cooling-off period

Contracts made at the door, by phone, post or online can be withdrawn within 14 days without reason. Energy contracts with households outside default supply must be in text form (letter, e-mail, SMS); a purely verbal phone deal is invalid.

Smart meter

All households must have at least a digital meter (moderne Messeinrichtung) by 2032. A smart meter is mandatory above 6,000 kWh/year, with heat pumps or wallboxes, or solar above 7 kW. You cannot refuse installation; annual costs are capped by law.

Solar panels

Solar systems up to 100 kW can receive a fixed feed-in tariff under the Renewable Energy Act (EEG); the rate depends on the commissioning date. EEG 2023 applies to new systems until 31 Dec 2026; a successor law is in parliament.

Free energy advice

Independent energy advice funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: free by phone (0800 809 802 400) and online; home visits cost up to €40. All advice is free for low-income households.

Fixed and dynamic contracts

Since 1 January 2025 every electricity supplier must offer a dynamic tariff to customers with a smart meter (intelligentes Messsystem). Suppliers with more than 200,000 customers must also offer a fixed-price contract with a binding term of at least 12 months.

• With a dynamic tariff the energy price follows the exchange price: cheap when exchange prices are low, more expensive when they rise. You need a smart meter; ask your metering operator or supplier. (bundesnetzagentur.de)
• Before you sign, the supplier must explain the costs, advantages, disadvantages and risks of a dynamic tariff and give you a short, clear summary of the main contract terms. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• Switching to a dynamic tariff gives no special right to cancel your current contract: the normal notice periods apply. (bundesnetzagentur.de)

Energy sharing and communities

Since 1 June 2026 you can share electricity from a renewable plant with others over the public grid within your grid operator's area (§ 42c EnWG); from 1 June 2028 also with directly adjacent grid areas. Grid operators must make this possible.

• You need two contracts: a sharing contract with the plant operator (with an allocation key and price) and a contract for the remaining electricity with a supplier of your choice. Billing uses 15-minute values, so usually a smart meter is needed. (bundesnetzagentur.de)
• The Bundesnetzagentur warns that some suppliers may not offer a remaining-electricity contract, or only at higher prices. It suggests using a sharing service provider who handles the arrangements with the grid operator. (bundesnetzagentur.de)
• Plant size limits: up to 30 kW for a plant of a household, up to 100 kW for a multi-unit building run by its residents. (gesetze-im-internet.de)

Heating without the gas grid

District heating is not regulated by the Bundesnetzagentur. Contracts follow the AVBFernwärmeV: price change clauses must reflect both the supplier's costs and the heat market, and the supplier must publish its terms, prices and price clauses online.

• Suppliers must publish their general terms, price rules, price change clauses and price components online, clearly and barrier-free. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• You can lower your contracted heat capacity once a year by up to 50% with four weeks' notice. If you switch to renewable heat (e.g. a heat pump), you can reduce it further or end the contract with two months' notice, with proof of the plan. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• The Schlichtungsstelle Energie only handles grid-supplied electricity and natural gas, not district heating or LPG. (schlichtungsstelle-energie.de)
• Private district heating customers can always challenge an unlawful price clause in the civil courts. The Bundeskartellamt checks district heating prices for abuse of market power. (bundeskartellamt.de)

Grants for heat pumps and insulation

The federal programme for efficient buildings (BEG) is split: KfW pays grants for a new renewable heating system such as a heat pump (programme 458), BAFA funds single measures on the building envelope, system technology and heating optimisation.

• KfW 458: apply in the 'Meine KfW' portal before work starts; you need a supply contract with a condition that it only applies if the grant is approved. The building must be at least 5 years old. (kfw.de)
• KfW states (checked 30 Sep 2026) a grant of 30% up to 80% of eligible costs, with eligible costs up to €28,000 for a single-family house. From 1 Feb 2027 this cap falls by €750 every six months. (kfw.de)
• BAFA single measures (BEG EM) apply to existing buildings whose building application is at least five years old; heating optimisation only in buildings with at most five homes. (bafa.de)

Back-billing and estimated bills

There is no fixed back-billing limit in months. Suppliers must bill at least once a year and send the bill within six weeks after the billing period. Claims generally expire after three years, counted from the end of the year in which they arose.

• Estimated bills must be clearly and visibly marked as estimates, with the reason. If you object with good reason, the supplier must read the meter itself at no extra cost. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• In default supply, billing errors are corrected only for the last reading period before the error was found, unless a longer effect is proven, and then for at most three years. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• The final bill must arrive within six weeks after the contract ends; any credit must be paid out within two weeks. A bill is due no earlier than two weeks after you receive it. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• You can choose monthly, quarterly or half-yearly billing instead of yearly, and get your bills electronically free of charge. (gesetze-im-internet.de)

Prepayment meters

In default supply, the supplier may demand advance payment if there is reason to fear you will not pay on time. Instead, it may install a cash or chip-card meter or a similar prepayment system (§ 14 StromGVV / GasGVV).

• The supplier must tell you clearly in writing the amount, the reasons and when the advance payment will end. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• Before a cut-off for non-payment, the supplier must point you to prepayment systems as a way to avoid it. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• The same rules apply to gas in default supply. (gesetze-im-internet.de)

Energy costs for tenants

With central heating, the landlord must split 50–70% of heating costs by measured use (§ 7 HeizkostenV). The yearly service-charge statement must reach you within 12 months after the billing period; later, back payments are usually excluded.

• In older, poorly insulated buildings heated by oil or gas with insulated pipes, 70% must be split by use. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• If heating costs are not billed by use as required, you may cut your share by 15%. If remote-readable meters or required information are missing, by 3%. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• Objections to the statement must reach the landlord within 12 months after you receive it. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• You may choose your own electricity supplier. Tenant electricity from rooftop solar (Mieterstrom) may cost at most 90% of the local default-supply tariff; first term max. two years, then max. one month's notice. (bundesnetzagentur.de)

Vulnerable and medical customers

A cut-off is disproportionate if you or someone in your household is especially vulnerable, in particular if health or age means a cut-off would cause a concrete danger to life or limb (§ 41f EnWG). If the supplier asks, you must make this credible.

• Before a cut-off the supplier must tell you free of charge how to avoid it, including state social support and which office to apply to, and recognised debt and consumer advice. (gesetze-im-internet.de)

Grid connection

Your local grid operator connects your home (NAV for electricity, NDAV for gas). Connection costs and any construction contribution must be itemised separately. For electricity, a construction contribution only applies above 30 kW, so a normal household connection is usually not affected.

• A construction contribution may cover at most half of the costs of building or reinforcing the local grid. For gas it can be charged regardless of capacity. (bundesnetzagentur.de)
• Solar: the grid operator must connect renewable plants without delay and with priority (§ 8 EEG). For up to 30 kW on a plot that already has a connection, the existing connection point counts as the best one. (gesetze-im-internet.de)
• After your request the grid operator must send a precise timetable without delay, and full information within eight weeks at the latest. If it misses the one-month timetable deadline for a small plant, the plant may be connected following the technical rules. (gesetze-im-internet.de)

Consumer organisation

Verbraucherzentralen