Ordinary Ledger: 18 days to the price letters, and one right that comes with them

November is the month the envelopes arrive. If your gas or electricity price is going up on 1 January, your supplier has to tell you in advance, and the law sets the dates.

The deadlines. In basic supply (Grundversorgung), a price change must be announced six weeks ahead, so by 20 November for a 1 January rise². For other household contracts it is one month, so by 1 December². These rules come from § 41 of the Energy Industry Act and § 5 of the basic-supply ordinance². Desk arithmetic: from today, that is 18 days to the first deadline.

What to expect. Verivox expects price increases across the country at the turn of the year as gas suppliers pass on higher procurement costs: between 10% and 20% depending on the tariff, and up to €500 more a year for a heated detached house¹. Wholesale gas, it says, is about 5 cents per kWh (net) dearer than in February 2025, a rise of around 140%¹. Gas network fees add about 3% on average, or about €19 a year at 20,000 kWh¹.

The first letters. A broker’s running list, compiled from supplier notices and local press, shows the range so far. Stadtwerke Wolfenbüttel raised all gas tariffs by 2.14 cents per kWh from 1 December, or 19.7% on its WF-eco Gas tariff². Essen’s basic gas rose by 1.46 cents from 1 November, 12.8% on one tariff². Annweiler am Trifels will charge 3.29 cents more for electricity in its TRI-Strom tariff from January, a rise of 9.5%². The broker’s list is not complete. Only your own letter is binding².

Your right. If your price goes up, you can cancel the contract with effect from the day of the increase, without notice and without charge, and that includes basic supply². In practice the new supplier usually handles the cancellation, so you do not have to².

What you can do. Find last year’s bill now and note your annual consumption in kWh. When the letter comes, you will have the one number you need to compare. Nothing here is investment advice.