Basic provider
In Germany, the basic supplier according to the Energy Industry Act ( Section 36 (1) sentence 1 EnWG) is the energy supply company that supplies the majority of household customers in a general supply network area. The spatial delimitation of the network area for general supply is the municipality area for which the network operator for general supply has concluded a concession agreement with the respective municipality. In the case of network operators that supply several municipalities, each municipality area is considered separately. In communities with public utilities , the local public utility will often be the basic supplier, otherwise often the respective area network operator. Household customers according to the Energy Industry Act are “final consumers who buy energy primarily for their own consumption in the household or for their own consumption not exceeding an annual consumption of 10,000 kilowatt hours for professional, agricultural or commercial purposes”. The number of household customers is determined by the number of contracts with delivery points. The number of people cared for or the counter does not matter.
Every three years, the general supply network operator determines the basic supplier for the next three years on July 1 and publishes it on the Internet by September 30. The basic suppliers must publish their general conditions as well as their general prices for supply in the low-voltage or low-pressure network. The conditions and prices apply to every household customer of the respective basic supplier. The basic supplier is obliged to supply everyone with electricity or gas in accordance with the legal conditions of the basic supply. The obligation to provide a basic supply does not exist if the supply is unreasonable for the energy supply company for economic reasons.
The contractual relationship between the basic supplier and household customers can take the form of a contract in writing, but also through implied action . The latter means that when electricity is purchased at an extraction point, a contract is automatically concluded with the basic supplier to which the extraction point is assigned, provided that no other energy supply contract has been concluded beforehand. If a supplier becomes insolvent, all customers supplied by the insolvent supplier automatically fall into the basic supply. The supply relationship can be terminated by the customer with a notice period of two weeks, e.g. B. for a change of electricity provider .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schwintowski, Hans-Peter: The market-conform determination of the basic supplier. In: EWeRK magazine of the Institute for Energy and Competition Law in the Municipal Economy e. V., 1/2018, pp. 3-9