Flexstrom

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Flexstrom AG iI

logo
legal form Stock company in bankruptcy
founding June 20, 2003 (as GmbH)
Seat Berlin
management Christoph Schulte-Kaubrügger, insolvency administrator
Number of employees > 550
sales 267 million euros (2010)
Branch Energy supplier
Website www.flexstrom.de

Flexstrom AG headquarters on Reichpietschufer in Berlin-Tiergarten

The Flex Power AG (own spelling FlexStrom ) is a medium-sized electricity provider ( electricity discount ), headquartered in Berlin .

The company, founded in 2003, was one of the largest independent electricity and gas providers in Germany with a total of more than 550,000 customers in 2011 and 2012. Flexstrom includes the ÖkoFlex brand , the electricity providers Löwenzahn Energie and Optimalgrün, and the gas provider FlexGas .

On April 12, 2013 Flexstrom and its subsidiaries Optimalgrün and Löwenzahn Energie filed for bankruptcy . The business of the subsidiary FlexGas was initially continued by an investor, but finally also filed for bankruptcy on April 25, 2013. A total of eight companies are affected by the bankruptcy. The insolvency proceedings of Flexstrom AG and five other companies were opened on July 1, 2013, that of FlexGas Holding on July 2 and the last on July 3. According to the insolvency administrator, they will lead to the distribution of a quota to the creditors in 2016 [obsolete] at the earliest and will not be concluded before the end of 2017 [obsolete] .

Measured by the number of creditors, around 835,000 up to March 2014, the Flexstrom Group's insolvency is even greater than the sensational one of Teldafax in 2011 (around 750,000) and thus the largest in German economic history. In March 2014, receivables of 511 million euros were registered, largely due to customer prepayments.

History, business model

In July 2004 Flexstrom GmbH entered the electricity market as an independent trading company . The subsidiary FlexGas GmbH was founded in June 2006, but the nationwide supply of natural gas to end consumers was not started until May 2010. In October 2008, Flexstrom GmbH was transformed into the unlisted Flexstrom AG . In December 2011, according to a magazine, the company supplied over 400,000 customers with electricity, after having acquired 293,929 new customers in the 2010 financial year alone, according to the annual financial statements.

In addition to minimum consumption packages and consumption-dependent tariffs for conventional electricity, the company also offered tariffs for green electricity with RECS certificates. However, these certificates were issued by other green electricity providers , such as Greenpeace Energy e. G., criticized as inadequate.

Since mid-2011, the main shareholders of Flexstrom, Robert and Thomas Mundt, have also been marketing electricity and gas with the help of Löwenzahn Energie GmbH , which operates at the same headquarters . The energy trader OptimalGrün GmbH from Freyung in Bavaria and the network marketing company OptimalGrün-Direct GmbH , which operated from the Flexstrom headquarters, also belonged to the Mundt brothers.

Flexstrom primarily offered so-called “electricity packages” for a period of one year, which had to be paid in advance ( advance payment ). According to the company, more than 50 percent of customers paid for their electricity a year in advance, and around 25 percent paid their bills three months in advance.

According to the Handelsblatt , Flexstrom sometimes sold electricity to new customers at prices that were lower than the cost of levies, taxes, concession fees and network charges, which together made up 19 to 20 cents per kilowatt hour. Attempts to turn such loss-making customers into profitable customers after the first year by increasing prices from 50 to more than 100 percent mostly failed.

In 2011, the company said it won 370,000 new customers and lost around 240,000 existing customers. The number of Flexstrom customers decreased from 403,291 to 314,000 in 2012, Optimal Grün saw a decrease from 99,874 to 63,500, while Löwenzahn Energie gained 46,310 customers to 97,000 customers.

In price comparison portals such as Verivox, Flexstrom performed particularly well by offering a high “new customer bonus” in “promotional tariffs” if this - which was the rule - was included in the calculation of the total costs for the first year of delivery, although initially the normal price for the Electricity package was to be paid in advance without any deduction. The Stiftung Warentest demonstrated in a sample calculation that the prices without a promotional bonus were still higher than the tariff of the local basic supplier.

Most recently, the company belonged to 44.92% each of the chairman of the board Robert Mundt and the supervisory board Thomas Mundt and another 5.0% each to Alexander Felix and the board member Martin Rothe. The remaining 0.17 percent were in free float .

Electricity labeling

According to § 42 EnWG on electricity labeling , all energy supply companies in Germany are obliged to indicate the origin of the electricity they supply. Flexstrom published the following values ​​for the years 2008 and 2010:

Electricity labeling
  		Electricity generation
Germany 2008 		Electricity
deliveries Flexstrom 2008 		Electricity generation in
Germany 2010 		Electricity
deliveries Flexstrom 2010
Renewable energy sources 15.8% 33.0% 18.0% 42.3%
Nuclear energy 25.4% 22.4% 24.5% 17.6%
Fossil fuels + other 58.8% 44.6% 54.2% 40.1%
Radioactive waste ( mg / kWh ) 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.5
CO 2 emissions (g / kWh) 506 368 494 342

development

Consumer organizations report frequent consumer complaints about Flexstrom. The ZDF television program WISO reported critically on Flexstrom's business practices as early as 2009.

Litigation since 2010

The new customer bonus offered by Flexstrom has been the subject of numerous legal disputes since 2010, on the one hand with the admissibility of the terms and conditions as such and on the other hand with their implementation by Flexstrom. The trigger was again and again the position of the company that a bonus payment would not be owed if the customer canceled during the first reference year at the end of the delivery year. The Heidelberg district court described the legal opinion of Flexstrom with its judgment of December 29, 2010 as "eyewash" and "attempted farmer trapping ". The Tiergarten district court in Berlin also sentenced Flexstrom on January 24, 2011 as part of a recognition judgment to pay bonus, litigation and legal fees to a customer who had drawn electricity for exactly one year. The Federation of Energy Consumers then advised that the new customer bonus should be sued in court if necessary. Although a few other courts followed suit, the forfeiture clause and / or the implementation by Flexstrom was subsequently mostly considered admissible in first-instance decisions. The decision of the Tiergarten District Court was overturned by the Berlin District Court on appeal with a judgment of January 13, 2012, but an appeal was allowed and in April 2013 the final decision was again in favor of the District Court (see end of section).

On April 29, 2011, the Berlin Regional Court condemned Flexstrom AG at the request of the Hamburg Consumer Center for letters of amendment to all customers who had attempted to apply new conditions (higher prices) for current electricity supply contracts with ineffective formulations and in a disguised form of a “flyer” achieve.

From June 24, 2011, Flexstrom made it clear in its general terms and conditions by means of an addition that a bonus is only granted if the contract is extended beyond the first year of the contract.

After Verivox had been sued several times by Flexstrom, Verivox terminated the business relationship with Flexstrom in December 2011 on the grounds that consumers had to be able to “rely on the promises of the energy suppliers being kept”. This is not the case with Flexstrom, because "several thousand consumer complaints clearly indicate that Flexstrom does not grant the new customer bonus if consumers want to switch again after a contract period of twelve months." By apparently not paying out promised bonuses to its customers, Flexstrom is a violation the cheap provider against the Verivox guidelines. In addition, only such judgments in favor of the company are collected on the Flexstrom website in order to deter customers from lawsuits. Verivox said: “We do not consider this way of dealing with consumers to be fair.” Verivox removed the Flexstrom tariffs again from the price comparison and cited as reasons for this “the non-consumer-friendly tariff structure, the unwillingness to resolve conflicts out of court and the lack of acceptance of court decisions on the part of Flexstrom AG ”. Not only the consumer advice centers have a large number of complaints about Flexstrom; Verivox also received a total of 3382 complaints about Flexstrom and Flexgas in 2011, of which 2346 related to unpaid bonuses.

In January 2012, Flexstrom had Verivox prohibit an allegation printed in a report in the Financial Times Deutschland regarding the number of customer complaints and a change made in the meantime to the published customer satisfaction survey by Verivox. Flexstrom obtained another preliminary injunction against the Federation of Energy Consumers based on false claims in an open letter to the Federal Network Agency calling for a review of Flexstrom and Löwenzahn Energie. It was then removed from the BdE website and the statements criticized in press releases were revoked. The rulings were issued without hearing the media concerned. According to its own statements, the particularly affected Handelsblatt prevailed in the main proceedings in March 2013 on key points.

On April 17, 2013, the 8th civil senate of the Federal Court of Justice decided in two revision negotiations (judgment VIII ZR 225/12 and judgment VIII ZR 246/12, both of April 17, 2013) that Flexstrom had to pay former customers a contractually agreed bonus. The plaintiffs had concluded a contract with Flexstrom for the supply of electricity in 2009 and 2010 respectively and terminated the contracts at the end of the first year of the contract. Flexstrom had refused to pay out the bonus due to the following clause in the terms and conditions: “If you, as a new customer, sign a contract with Flexstrom, Flexstrom grants you a one-time bonus. This is due after 12 months of delivery and is offset against the first annual invoice at the latest. [...] The bonus does not apply to termination within the first year of delivery, unless the termination only becomes effective after the end of the first year of delivery. "The BGH ruled:" ... that the clause in the version applicable here for a legally unprepared customer without can also be understood to mean that an entitlement to the bonus already exists if the contract - as here - has existed for at least one year. The clause is therefore to be interpreted in this sense in accordance with Section 305c (2) BGB. "

Energy arbitration board

Since the amendments to the Energy Industry Act that came into force on August 4, 2011, energy suppliers are obliged to participate in arbitration proceedings requested by consumers and to inform consumers of this possibility if complaints are negatively answered by the supplier. The Energy Arbitration Board , established in October 2011 and recognized by the Federal Government, decided in its arbitration recommendation on December 30, 2011 that the bonus promised by Flexstrom should also be paid if consumers terminated the contract after one year. In it, the ombudsman and former judge at the Federal Court of Justice Dieter Wolst points out that the judgments cited by Flexstrom himself were in favor of the company in the proceedings under Section 495a of the German Code of Civil Procedure (amount in dispute below 600 euros), i.e. with less stringent requirements for finding and justifying the judgment. The ombudsman expressly agrees with the inferior opinion of first instance judgments and refers to the basic rules of the BGB : A consumer does not have to expect a clause that a bonus payment after written confirmation "to further conditions, in particular as far-reaching as the extension of the contract by further twelve months ". In an interview, the ombudsman criticized Flexstrom's bonus clauses as intransparent, unclear and confusing and therefore declared them to be ineffective. He asked the company Flexstrom to decide within four weeks whether it would accept the arbitration.

The Federation of Energy Consumers expressed its conviction that after this decision, which cost the company EUR 350 arbitration fees, Flexstrom would pay out the bonus in future because "further disputes would only damage the company financially and in its reputation". The Rhineland-Palatinate consumer center also pointed out that the decision had significantly improved the position of consumers, because the flat rate of 350 euros to be borne by Flexstrom for each further procedure brought before the arbitration board usually exceeded the bonus payment.

On January 6, 2012, however, Flexstrom rejected the mediation recommendation and declared that it wanted to take the dispute to court. At the same time, the company announced that it would in future forego out-of-court mediation by the arbitration board and go straight to court, as the out-of-court fee would exceed the costs of a lost court case.

Of the 14,000 disputes that the Energy Arbitration Board received by the end of 2012 , around a quarter related to Flexstrom.

Consumer organizations

In June 2011, the consumer advice center Schleswig-Holstein criticized Flexstrom for arbitrarily and without the consent of the customer for tariff upgrades and the resulting inadmissible price increases of over 47%. The consumer advice center recommended that affected customers object to the price increases that were made without a legal basis.

In August 2011, the consumer advice center Baden-Württemberg criticized the terms and conditions of Flexstrom when changing electricity provider as being hostile to consumers. Flexstrom had only granted future customers a right of termination if the start of delivery was delayed by more than six months, which in the event of an interim delivery by the basic supplier led to high additional costs for many customers. The consumer advice center Baden-Württemberg Flexstrom prohibited the use of this contractual clause through a lawsuit before the Berlin Regional Court (Az .: 15 O 162/11). In its blog, Flexstrom AG announced that it would keep the clause despite the ruling. The consumer advice center Baden-Württemberg criticized Flexstrom's decision to “continue to trample on customer rights”.

In September 2011, the Federation of Energy Consumers awarded Flexstrom and another electricity provider the negative award Trübe Funzel for "exceptionally rude behavior towards consumers".

Reported balance sheet data

Flexstrom AG reported a balance sheet profit of 1.4 million euros for 2011, after a balance sheet loss of 11.5 million euros for 2010, 17.5 million euros for 2009 and 21.7 million euros for 2008 had passed. As a result, the balance sheets for 2009 and 2010 showed surpluses totaling around 10 million euros, while the 2008 balance sheet showed a deficit of 7.5 million euros.

The bankruptcy

The Federation of Energy Consumers pointed out that Löwenzahn Energie GmbH , which was newly founded in 2011 and which led many price comparisons at the time, had almost the same owners as Flexstrom and operated on the same business principle. He accused the Federal Network Agency, as in the Teldafax case, of failing to perform its statutory control function. However, some of the allegations made by the Federation of Energy Consumers against Flexstrom turned out to be untenable and were revoked.

However, the Federal Network Agency had already commented in writing in August 2011 on an earlier, similar request by the BdEv. The letter states that the authority had "already used its legal options in the past with energy suppliers". At the same time, the head of the authority emphasizes: "Please understand, however, that the dissatisfaction with the electricity provider FlexStrom based on customer ratings on the Verivox Internet portal does not justify intervention by the Federal Network Agency." Function of Market Mechanisms ". This means "that those companies whose offer is either not economically feasible or does not meet the needs of consumers in terms of price, contractual conditions [...] or customer service, cannot stay in the market in the long term and either voluntarily or by way of bankruptcy leave the market. "

In March 2012, the competing company EWE AG was prohibited by a preliminary injunction from designating Flexstrom as insolvent.

In the second half of 2012, complaints from network operators and information about unpaid EEG levies at the Federal Network Agency increased. From January 2013, Flexstrom and its subsidiaries OptimalGrün and Löwenzahn Energie no longer paid the levy even after payment orders . On January 22, 2013, the Federal Network Agency then initiated proceedings to prohibit business operations. The company was asked to provide robust evidence of its financial standing. Corresponding procedures were later initiated for Optimal Grün and Löwenzahn Energie .

According to research by the Handelsblatt , by the beginning of 2013 more than 50 network operators had complained about sluggish payment through Flexstrom. In the meantime, numerous business partners have requested security deposits. On December 27 and 28, 2012 alone, Flexstrom had given more than a dozen companies a written assurance that they would pay future bills in advance.

In January 2013, Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (WSW) stopped supplying electricity to two Flexstrom subsidiaries due to payment difficulties. According to the company, the municipal utilities did not receive an answer to an offer to Flexstrom to continue to deliver electricity against payment in advance. According to Flexstrom, the company even had a credit and announced abuse proceedings against the network operator. In February 2013, the Bonn public prosecutor's office brought charges against those responsible for Flexstrom for delaying bankruptcy .

On April 12, 2013 Flexstrom and its subsidiaries Optimalgrün and Löwenzahn Energie filed for bankruptcy . The insolvency procedure was applied for on the same day that the Federal Network Agency wanted to send an already completed letter with which Flexstrom would have been prohibited from the prepayment system. The main customs office in Berlin had informed the supervisory authority a few days earlier that the tax liability was high.

According to the company, customers owed 100 million euros. Under pressure from the Federal Network Agency, Flexstrom gave up its controversial prepayment model on April 15, 2013. New contracts and contracts pending renewal should from now on only provide for monthly payments.

After the ruling by the Federal Court of Justice on April 17th, the insolvency administrator announced that the company would stop delivering to its customers. On April 19, the four major transmission system operators canceled their contracts with Flexstrom, which meant that the company was no longer able to reach its customers. The customers were then supplied by the local municipal utilities. The Flexgas subsidiary was initially continued by an investor, but also filed for bankruptcy on April 25, 2013.

Consumer advocates criticize the fact that in mid-May 2013 the company sent e-mails to its customers who had meanwhile relapsed into the basic service, in which it advertised certain electricity providers in return for commission.

According to the insolvency administrator in March 2014, a total of 835,000 creditors have filed claims. These are mostly customers who have paid for their electricity or gas in advance. In terms of the number of creditors affected, the Flexstrom insolvency is the largest insolvency proceedings in the history of Germany. The registered claims amount to 511 million euros. No payments have been made so far (as of November 2018).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Commercial register portal of the federal states. Entry Flexstrom , District Court Berlin (Charlottenburg) HRB 90656. November 3, 2003, accessed on January 2, 2012 .
  2. ↑ title. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 19, 2013 ; Retrieved April 19, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.flexstrom-blog.de
  3. ↑ About FlexStrom. Newsroom of the FlexStrom group of companies. Retrieved February 11, 2012 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Annual financial statements of FlexStrom AG for the financial year from 01/01/2010 to 12/31/2010. In: Unternehmensregister / Verlag Bundesanzeiger, FlexStrom AG, HRB 90656. Retrieved on March 22, 2012 .
  5. ^ A b Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Sales rumors about Flexstrom . In: Handelsblatt . No. 26 , February 6, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 18 f . (restricted version handelsblatt.com ).
  6. ↑ a b c Electricity provider Flexstrom files for bankruptcy. In: Focus . April 12, 2013, accessed April 13, 2013 .
  7. ↑ a b c Flexstrom is insolvent. In: Internet presence of the Tagesschau (ARD) . April 12, 2013, archived from the original on April 15, 2013 ; Retrieved April 13, 2013 .
  8. ↑ a b After Flexstrom, Flexgas is also broke. In: Handelsblatt. April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013 .
  9. ↑ a b List of insolvency proceedings by the insolvency administrator on www.flexstrom.de (all accesses on August 10, 2016)
    FlexStrom AG: July 1, 2013, AG Charlottenburg ( opening resolution )
    Löwenzahn Energie GmbH: July 1, 2013, AG Charlottenburg ( opening resolution )
    Optimal Grün GmbH: 1 July 2013 Charlottenburg ( opening decision )
    Flex gas GmbH: 1 July 2013 Charlottenburg ( opening decision )
    FlexStrom marketing AG: 1 July 2013 Charlottenburg ( opening decision )
    Optimal Green Direct GmbH: 1 July 2013 AG Charlottenburg ( opening
    resolution ) FlexGas Holding GmbH: July 2, 2013, AG Charlottenburg ( opening
    resolution ) EVS Energie VertriebsService GmbH: 3 July 2013, AG Charlottenburg ( opening resolution )
  10. ↑ a b FlexStrom AG: Questions and answers on insolvency proceedings. Information from the insolvency administrator Christoph Schulte-Kaubrügger on the company's website. www.flexstrom.de, accessed on August 10, 2016 .
  11. ↑ a b c Heike Jahberg: "With Flexstrom you get your money back". Interview with the insolvency administrator. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 23, 2014, accessed June 27, 2014 .
  12. ↑ a b Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Flexstrom creditors need a lot of patience . In: Handelsblatt . No. 186 , September 26, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 19 .
  13. ↑ a b Flexstrom creditors should be compensated. Handelsblatt (afp / dpa), March 23, 2014, accessed on June 27, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Guardian for electricity and gas . In: Handelsblatt . No. 104 , June 4, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 18 .
  15. ↑ FlexStrom - inexpensive as a matter of principle. Retrieved October 6, 2013 .
  16. ↑ Wrong general suspicion against green electricity. (No longer available online.) Greenpeace-energy.de, formerly in the original ; accessed in February 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.greenpeace-energy.de  
  17. ↑ The European green electricity certificate RECS in the criticism. dradio.de, accessed February 2012 .
  18. ↑ Imprint. Löwenzahn website. Retrieved January 2, 2012 .
  19. ↑ Commercial register portal of the federal states. Entry Löwenzahn Energie , District Court Berlin (Charlottenburg) HRB 135987. August 11, 2011, accessed on January 2, 2012 .
  20. ↑ Imprint. OptimalGrün website. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 23, 2012 ; Retrieved January 24, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.optimalgruen.de
  21. ↑ Commercial register portal of the federal states. Entry OptimalGrün , Passau District Court HRB 7858. February 1, 2010, accessed on January 24, 2012 .
  22. ↑ Imprint. OptimalGrün-Direct website. Retrieved January 24, 2012 .
  23. ↑ Commercial register portal of the federal states. Entry OptimalGrün-Direct , District Court Berlin (Charlottenburg) HRB 135074. December 2, 2010, accessed on January 24, 2012 .
  24. ^ A b c Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Network operators complain about Flexstrom . In: Handelsblatt . No. 5 , January 8, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 16 .
  25. ↑ a b c d e Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Flexstrom: Netzagentur takes hold . In: Handelsblatt . No. 72 , April 15, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 16 f .
  26. ↑ a b c Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Flexstrom daughters switched off . In: Handelsblatt . January 24, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 15 .
  27. ↑ a b c d Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Now public prosecutors are checking Flexstrom . In: Handelsblatt . No. 73 , April 16, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 18 .
  28. ↑ Verivox website.
  29. ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Flexstrom without bonus - more expensive than the basic supplier. In: test . November 24, 2011, accessed February 15, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Flexstrom tariff flyer ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ↑ Information on electricity labeling. Flexstrom website. Retrieved January 2, 2012 .
  32. ↑ Heike Jahberg: Cheap electricity has its pitfalls. In: Tagesspiegel . May 25, 2010, accessed February 1, 2011 .
  33. ↑ Recording of the broadcast on March 29, 2009 at Youtube.com .
  34. ↑ a b c d e Decision of the Obmudsman of the Arbitration Board Energy. (PDF; 114 kB) (No longer available online.) December 30, 2011, archived from the original on January 31, 2012 ; Retrieved January 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schlichtungstelle-energie.de
  35. ↑ a b General Terms and Conditions. Flexstrom website. April 20, 2011, archived from the original on June 18, 2010 ; Retrieved June 21, 2011 . - The controversial passage read: "If FlexStrom grants you a one-off bonus as a new customer, this is due after 12 months of delivery and is offset against the 1st annual invoice at the latest. [...] The bonus does not apply to cancellation within the first year of delivery, unless the cancellation only becomes effective after the end of the first year of delivery. ” In the version of June 24, 2011, accessed on July 6, 2011, as well as in the latest version of November 7, 2011, accessed on January 2, 2012, the passage was supplemented by the clarification: “[…] d. H. no bonus is granted if the contract is terminated before or at the end of the first year of delivery. "; in the version of December 29, 2011, accessed on March 20, 2012, it said: "[...] if the contract is terminated before or at the end of the first year of delivery."
  36. ↑ Judgment text of the Heidelberg Regional Court. File number: 12 O 76/10 KfH. December 29, 2010, accessed June 21, 2011 .
  37. ^ Association of Energy Consumers: Acknowledgment judgment of the Tiergarten District Court of January 24, 2011. March 15, 2011, accessed on June 21, 2011 .
  38. ↑ Judgment text of the Berlin-Tiergarten district court. (PDF; 155 kB) Business number: 3 C 377/10. January 24, 2011, accessed June 21, 2011 .
  39. ↑ Federation of Energy Consumers: Flexstrom has to pay an annual bonus. March 15, 2011, accessed June 21, 2011 .
  40. ↑ Judgment text of the Regensburg District Court. (PDF; 220 kB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 23, 2012 ; Retrieved January 5, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vzhh.de
  41. ↑ Judgment text of the Buxtehude District Court. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 5, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.vzhh.de  
  42. ↑ Judgment text of the Gladbeck District Court. Retrieved January 5, 2012 .
  43. ↑ Judgment text of the Esslingen District Court. (PDF; 190 kB) Accessed March 1, 2012 .
  44. ↑ Judgment text of the Dachau district court. (PDF; 105 kB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 23, 2012 ; Retrieved March 1, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vzhh.de
  45. ↑ File number: 1 C 423/11.
  46. ^ Judgment of the Berlin Regional Court of January 13, 2012, Az. 56 S 58/11. (PDF; 321 kB) Flexstrom website. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 27, 2012 ; Retrieved August 25, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.download.flexstrom.de
  47. ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Hidden price increases from Flexstrom - only with approval. In: test . December 2, 2010, accessed February 15, 2013 .
  48. ^ Federation of Energy Consumers: Flexstrom condemned to write a correction. May 10, 2011, accessed June 21, 2011 .
  49. ↑ Judgment text of the Berlin Regional Court. (PDF; 64 kB) Reference number: 103 O 198/10. April 29, 2011, accessed June 21, 2011 .
  50. ↑ That means: Flexstrom tariffs no longer appear in the Verivox tariff calculator.
  51. ↑ In 2011, from January to November 2190 consumer complaints about new customer bonuses were received by Flexstrom.
  52. ^ A b Daniel Wetzel: Flexstrom should pay out bonuses to customers. In: The world . January 6, 2012, accessed January 5, 2012 .
  53. ↑ a b Verivox GmbH: Verivox terminates sales partnership with Flexstrom. December 11, 2011, accessed March 15, 2012 .
  54. ↑ a b summary of the court rulings. Flexstrom website. Retrieved January 5, 2012 .
  55. ↑ Verivox recorded a total of 3,382 complaints about Flexstrom and Flexgas in 2011. In: www.energie-chronik.de. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012 ; Retrieved February 26, 2012 .
  56. ↑ Verivox and Flexstrom split up in the commission dispute. In: Financial Times Germany. December 19, 2011, archived from the original on January 7, 2012 ; Retrieved February 8, 2012 .
  57. ^ Temporary injunction LG Hamburg, Az. 315 O 615/11. (PDF; 19 kB) January 6, 2012, accessed on February 8, 2012 .
  58. ^ Temporary injunction LG Hamburg, Az. 315 O22 / 12. (PDF; 605 kB) January 17, 2012, accessed on February 8, 2012 .
  59. ^ Judgment by the Bonn Regional Court of June 29, 2012 , facsimile on flexstrom-presse.de (PDF; 2.2 MB)
  60. ↑ Alexandra Heimken: Flexstrom defends itself against criticism. (No longer available online.) In: Münsterland Zeitung. February 3, 2012, archived from the original on May 28, 2012 ; Retrieved February 8, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.muensterlandzeitung.de
  61. ^ Correction by the Federation of Energy Consumers to the report of January 6, 2012 , screenshot on flexstrom-presse.de (BMP)
  62. ↑ a b Correction by the Federation of Energy Consumers to the report of January 8, 2012 , screenshot on flexstrom-presse.de (BMP)
  63. ↑ Communication from the press office of the Federal Court of Justice No. 17/2013. April 17, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  64. ↑ Energy Industry Act, Section 111 b. Retrieved January 8, 2012 .
  65. ↑ Energy Industry Act § 111 a. Retrieved January 8, 2012 .
  66. ↑ From the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection as the “central arbitration body for the out-of-court settlement of disputes between energy supply companies and consumers”.
  67. ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Arbitration Board Energy - Arbitrator: Flexstrom should pay. In: test . January 6, 2012, accessed January 15, 2013 .
  68. ↑ Consumer InfoTV . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 3, 2012 ; Retrieved March 22, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dailymotion.com
  69. ^ Federation of Energy Consumers: Ombudsman: Flexstrom has to pay a bonus. January 4, 2012, archived from the original on January 23, 2012 ; Retrieved January 4, 2012 .
  70. ↑ Fabian Fehrenbach: Electricity: FlexStrom has to pay a bonus! In: ngo-online. Retrieved January 5, 2012 .
  71. ^ Daniel Wetzel: Dispute between Flexstrom and Verivox escalates. In: The world . December 21, 2011, accessed January 8, 2012 .
  72. ↑ More than 47 percent higher electricity prices at Flexstrom. (No longer available online.) June 9, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 26, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.verbüberszentrale-sh.de  
  73. ↑ Flexstrom has to delete consumer-hostile termination clause. (No longer available online.) August 15, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 26, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.vz-bawue.de  
  74. ^ Association of Energy Consumers: "Trübe Funzel" for Flexstrom and Stromio. September 23, 2011, accessed January 2, 2012 .
  75. ↑ Trouble with Flexstrom - about transparency and bonus payments. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 12, 2014 ; Retrieved March 22, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / news.stromrechner-24.de
  76. ↑ Low-cost electricity provider FlexStrom with good company figures. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 15, 2012 ; Retrieved March 22, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.presseportal.de
  77. ↑ Federation of Energy Consumers: Federal Network Agency must check Flexstrom and Löwenzahn. January 6, 2012, archived from the original on January 23, 2012 ; Retrieved January 8, 2012 .
  78. ↑ Federation of Energy Consumers: Federal Network Agency must check Flexstrom and Löwenzahn. ( Copy of text from faire-preise.de ). (No longer available online.) January 6, 2012, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved April 11, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / faire-energiepreise.de
  79. ^ A b c Mathias Kurth: Letter to the Federation of Energy Consumers. (PDF; 53 kB) August 22, 2011, accessed on February 19, 2012 .
  80. ↑ EWE is not allowed to call its competitor FlexStrom “insolvent”. In: DerWesten . Retrieved March 22, 2012 .
  81. ^ A b Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Flexstrom waives prepayment . In: Handelsblatt . No. 74 , April 17, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 25 .
  82. ↑ Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Flexstrom ceases operations . In: Handelsblatt . No. 77 , April 22, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 25 .
  83. ↑ Jürgen Flauger, Sönke Iwersen: Mail from an undead . In: Handelsblatt . No. 98 , May 24, 2013, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 26 .
  84. ↑ Christina Kyriasoglou: It's about millions of euros. Search at the FlexStrom boss. Manager magazine . November 22, 2018, accessed February 20, 2019.