Complaint to an electricity or gas supplier (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A consumer complaint to your electricity or gas supplier in Germany — a wrong bill, excessive instalments, a meter reading not taken over, a missing bonus or a termination left unconfirmed. The letter gives customer number, meter number and supply address, describes the problem, asks for a remedy and points to the four-week statutory deadline for an answer (§ 111a of the German Energy Industry Act, EnWG). If it fails, it is the precondition for a free application to the energy conciliation body, the Schlichtungsstelle Energie (§ 111b EnWG). Not for water or district heating. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Customer
- Customer's address
- Energy or gas supplier
- Energy supplier's postal address
- City
- Date
- Client number
- Meter number
- Electricity or gas (Germany)
- Supply address (where the energy is used)
- What the complaint is about
- Remedy requested
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- How long does an energy supplier in Germany have to answer a complaint?
- Four weeks from receiving it (§ 111a EnWG). If the supplier does not put things right, it must give its reasons in text form and point you to the conciliation procedure, with the address and website of the Schlichtungsstelle Energie. Note the day your complaint arrived — the period after which you can apply for conciliation runs from then.
- What does energy conciliation cost in Germany, and must the supplier take part?
- For consumers the procedure at the Schlichtungsstelle Energie is free, and the supplier is obliged to take part (§ 111b EnWG). The body examines the case in writing and makes a recommendation that you need not accept; you keep the right to go to court. You must first have complained to the supplier, and no court case on the same matter may be pending. There is a separate document for the application.
- Does this complaint letter also work for water or district heating in Germany?
- No. Water and district heating are outside the Energy Industry Act; complaints about private water or heat suppliers go, once the complaint has failed, to the federal Universal Conciliation Body. Where the municipality runs water under public law, the bill is a fee notice, challenged under Land law by objection or court action — with its own short deadline, stated in the notice. This letter is written for electricity and gas.
- How do I send the complaint to the supplier so that it counts later for conciliation in Germany?
- No form is prescribed. Use the complaint channel the supplier gives on its bill or website — e-mail, contact form or post — and keep a dated copy. The conciliation body requires proof that you first complained to the company (§ 14(1) of the Consumer Dispute Resolution Act, VSBG). With a contact form, save a screenshot or the acknowledgement of receipt.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
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