Control of abusive practices in the context of energy price relief measures
How do energy price relief measures work?
While the laws on energy price relief were in effect, energy costs incurred by private households and companies were capped. The measures were intended to ease the burden on energy consumers and at the same time continue to provide incentives for saving energy. The legislature stipulated the maximum level of unit rates charged for the supply of electricity, gas and heat. The amounts of these so-called reference prices differed depending on the relevant customer groups (households, businesses, industry, etc.).
The gas price private households had to pay was limited to 12 ct/kWh; the price of electricity to 40 ct/kWh, the price of district heating to 9.5 ct/kWh. The state’s price guarantee covered up to 80 per cent of what was forecast to be the 2023 consumption. This forecast was usually based on the previous year’s annual consumption. For each kilowatt hour exceeding this share private households had to pay the unit rate agreed in the supply contract.
If the contractually agreed unit rates exceeded the reference price during the period the energy price relief laws were in force, energy supply companies can claim relief payments made available by the state. Energy suppliers are then reimbursed for the difference between the reference price and the unit rate agreed with regard to their customers’ quantity quota.
Act on the introduction of an electricity price cap (Strompreisbremsengesetz – StromPBG)
What does the Bundeskartellamt control?
Energy supply companies may not use their pricing strategy to abuse the provisions of the laws on energy price relief for customers to the disadvantage of the state by claiming excessive relief payments. In particular, if they wished to be compensated under the laws, energy suppliers were generally only allowed to charge unit rates exceeding the statutory reference prices if they had incurred higher costs, notably procurement costs and regulatory costs that had increased as a result of the crisis.
The legislature made the Bundeskartellamt the competent authority for abuse control in this context in order to be able to check whether reimbursement payments made by the state may have been claimed fraudulently (see Section 27 EWPBG and Section 39 StromPBG).
In the case of an infringement the Bundeskartellamt can require suppliers to take remedial measures; in particular, the authority can
- order that the compensation made by the state must be paid back,
- seize other economic benefits,
- impose fines.