Hello everyone,
I am supporting a Syrian family who has integrated very well and has managed to establish themselves, including owning a small home.
The father recently asked me for advice. He received the gas bill and was shocked. He had prepaid €3,500 and now has to pay an additional €8,000.
I was able to verify the numbers. The gas consumption has increased by a factor of 3.7 compared to previous years, which explains the high additional payment. I asked if there was an issue with the heating system. Yes, it was broken and someone repaired it without providing an invoice. The strange thing is that the gas meter was replaced by the utility company two weeks ago. I have the report including the final readings.
I don’t know why the meter was changed.
Do you think it is possible to negotiate some kind of reduction here? Considering that the meter readings were consistently stable for the last four years and now within a 12-month period the consumption has almost quadrupled, this seems rather unusual.
I am supporting a Syrian family who has integrated very well and has managed to establish themselves, including owning a small home.
The father recently asked me for advice. He received the gas bill and was shocked. He had prepaid €3,500 and now has to pay an additional €8,000.
I was able to verify the numbers. The gas consumption has increased by a factor of 3.7 compared to previous years, which explains the high additional payment. I asked if there was an issue with the heating system. Yes, it was broken and someone repaired it without providing an invoice. The strange thing is that the gas meter was replaced by the utility company two weeks ago. I have the report including the final readings.
I don’t know why the meter was changed.
Do you think it is possible to negotiate some kind of reduction here? Considering that the meter readings were consistently stable for the last four years and now within a 12-month period the consumption has almost quadrupled, this seems rather unusual.
J
Jesse Custer26 Nov 2025 06:36Unfortunately, you were out of luck. For years, the specifications were not checked – and now that is coming back to haunt you.
N
nordanney26 Nov 2025 07:02HilfeHilfe schrieb:
Hello, here is the solution. For the past three years, the basic supplier estimated the consumption. Well, typical bad luck. The price from the provider was also almost twice as high as the new customer price.
Is it possible to request a price adjustment in this case? Or is it just bad luck? Well, if you sign a contract, you have to honor it. Unfortunately, this is "stupidity"—both the expensive contract and not even taking meter readings. That’s why it’s important to review the contract every year and switch if necessary.
Unfortunately, the family has to go through this.
In der Ruine26 Nov 2025 09:13nordanney schrieb:
Unfortunately, this is just "stupidity" – both the expensive contract and not even being able to read the meter. You can’t apply the usual standards to a Syrian refugee family.
These are typically German things that you first have to learn.
H
hanghaus202326 Nov 2025 09:33HilfeHilfe schrieb:
Is it at least possible to request a price adjustment there? Or is it just bad luck?Trying is how you learn, as they say.Submit a goodwill request?
Hello,
that is indeed a personal oversight. If the 8000 euros is basically the back payment for 4 years (three years estimated and now properly read), that results in an annual cost of 5500 euros. With an absolutely absurd default supplier rate of 15 cents per kWh, that corresponds to a consumption of around 35,000 kWh per year. If it’s a only moderately insulated house and maybe some "heating mistakes" are made (windows left on tilt, etc.), that amount of consumption is quite possible.
You can’t really request anything here, and I would rather not try...
I would kindly ask the local utility company if it’s at least possible to switch the tariff retrospectively. From the default supply tariff to the regular utility tariff. But if they haven’t already done this automatically (the utility here automatically places you on the tariff that is cheapest for you), I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much.
Best regards,
Andreas
that is indeed a personal oversight. If the 8000 euros is basically the back payment for 4 years (three years estimated and now properly read), that results in an annual cost of 5500 euros. With an absolutely absurd default supplier rate of 15 cents per kWh, that corresponds to a consumption of around 35,000 kWh per year. If it’s a only moderately insulated house and maybe some "heating mistakes" are made (windows left on tilt, etc.), that amount of consumption is quite possible.
HilfeHilfe schrieb:
Is it at least possible to request a price adjustment in this case?
You can’t really request anything here, and I would rather not try...
I would kindly ask the local utility company if it’s at least possible to switch the tariff retrospectively. From the default supply tariff to the regular utility tariff. But if they haven’t already done this automatically (the utility here automatically places you on the tariff that is cheapest for you), I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much.
Best regards,
Andreas