“One is moving, everyone is trembling”

A new service by power price comparison website Verivox could threaten the business model of German electricity suppliers, writes Jan Schmidbauer in Süddeutsche Zeitung. Verivox reminds customers about cheaper offers and carries out the switch to a new supplier - making the procedure simpler and potentially stripping companies of long-term customers, Schmidbauer writes. The business model of many energy suppliers consists of initially offering new customers favourable conditions and increasing prices after a certain period, relying on customers to be “too sluggish” to change contracts, writes Schmidbauer. Verivox makes money by receiving a commission for each contract that it brokers for suppliers, raising doubts whether customers will end up getting the best deal possible, Schmidbauer says.

Read the article in German here.

For background information on the Energiewende’s effect on electricity costs see the CLEW-Dossier Energiewende effects on power prices, costs and industry.