The Federal Cartel Office has initiated proceedings against several municipal utilities and district heating suppliers throughout Germany. It is being investigated whether the providers had charged customers too high prices.
Six municipal utilities and district heating suppliers have been targeted by competition watchdogs because of suspicions of abusive price increases. The Federal Cartel Office announced today that it had initiated proceedings against the companies concerned. It is being investigated whether the providers have used the so-called price adjustment clause in the period from 2021 to September 2023.
District heating suppliers use this clause when adjusting their prices in order to reflect both the general market development and the costs for the energy that is specifically used to generate their own heat.
District heating supplier are monopolists
“District heating suppliers have a monopoly position in their respective network areas,” explained Cartel Office chief Andreas Mundt. Consumers would not be able to change provider. “That’s why the utilities are also subject to the antitrust law ban on abuse.”
District heating prices would have to be based on the development of the suppliers’ actual costs and the general price development in heat supply. For example, the question needs to be clarified as to whether a company has adjusted the district heating price to the development of the gas price, although other cheaper alternatives could actually have been used to generate heat.
Nine networks in four federal states affected
“In these proceedings, we examine in particular whether the price adjustment clauses specifically used violate legal requirements and thus led to higher prices for consumers,” said Mundt.
The cartel office did not name the companies; the companies operate nine district heating networks in four federal states. You will now be asked to explain your calculations and submit relevant documents. The Cartel Office pointed out that, regardless of the proceedings now initiated, consumers can sue themselves if district heating price increases have been too high for them.
Clear Price increases
After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the stoppage of Russian gas deliveries in spring 2022, energy prices skyrocketed. District heating customers also felt this. In recent months, contracts from their suppliers with skyrocketing prices have landed in many cities and regions.
According to media reports, the Münster municipal utilities, for example, had raised demands that were three to four times higher than before. According to the consumer advice center, the district heating provider E.ON also drastically increased its prices between 2020 and 2022, which meant additional costs of several thousand euros for households.