Gas providers pass on costs: consumer advocates are examining lawsuit against CO2 prices

Gas providers pass on costs
Consumer advocates examine lawsuit against CO2 prices

Customers are threatened with back payments on their gas bills in 2021. Many of them complain to the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations. This now collects the objections in order to prepare a lawsuit.

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) wants to have the passing on of the costs of CO2 pricing by gas providers to their customers in certain constellations legally checked. “We have received consumer complaints in which prices have been increased despite the existing price guarantee,” explained Sabine Lund, the speaker in the energy market observation team at vzbv.

At the same time, however, some consumers were not made aware of their special right of termination. Since January 2021, consumer advice centers have been receiving more and more complaints about increased gas prices, which the energy suppliers justify with the CO2 pricing introduced at the beginning of the year. The vzbv now wants to collect the data from affected consumers and examine a model declaratory action.

As the vzbv calculated in a survey for the “Welt am Sonntag”, a typical family household in a 120 square meter detached house in 2021 has to reckon with a rise in heating costs of more than 200 euros compared to the previous year due to rising gas prices. The bill for heating and hot water in 2020 was an average of 990 euros, in 2021 it will probably be 1260 euros. The heating bill in a 100 square meter apartment also rises from an average of 770 to 980 euros.

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