Business electricity and gas: what is different for businesses

Who counts as a business customer

A business customer (Gewerbekunde) is anyone who buys electricity or gas for a business. Small businesses with low usage legally still count as household customers in some cases, depending on usage. Which classification applies to you is in your contract and on your bill.

Prices and taxes

With business tariffs, prices are usually given net, that is without VAT. Whether you reclaim the tax as input tax depends on your tax situation. You clear that up with your tax adviser. In the comparison we show prices net, so that you can judge them correctly.

Cancellation and deadlines

There is no statutory right of withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht) for business customers. So we go through the term (Laufzeit) and notice period (Kündigungsfrist) with you beforehand without hurry. Read these points carefully before you sign.

There is also a difference for price changes: under § 41 paragraph 5 EnWG (Energy Industry Act), the notice must come at least one month before the change for household customers and at least two weeks before for other customers. The special right of cancellation applies in both cases, and there is more in the article on special cancellation after a price rise.

Term and price commitment

Business contracts often have a fixed term and a price commitment (Preisbindung). This gives planning security but takes away room to move if prices fall. Watch when the contract ends and how it is renewed. With several supply points a list is worth it:

• End of contract for each supply point
• Notice period and form of cancellation
• Rules on renewal
• End of the price commitment

Several meters and supply points

If your business has several meters or sites, each supply point needs its own assignment. Each market location has its own ID, and there is more in the article on the market location ID. It is clearest if the contracts end at the same time. We go through with you which supply points you can switch together.

Standard load profile and power measurement

Smaller consumers are billed with a standard load profile (Standardlastprofil), where the annual usage counts. Above a high level of usage, the load profile (Lastgang) is measured, that is the power at short intervals. This is called registering power measurement (registrierende Leistungsmessung). The threshold from which this applies is set by the rules for grid operators, just tell us the type of measurement from your bill.

With power measurement, the price depends more on your load profile than for small consumers. For very high usage we therefore obtain an individual offer, as a standard price would not fit.

What we need from you

• the latest annual bills for all supply points
• name of the business and address of each supply point
• a contact person who is allowed to sign the contract
• notes on the type of heating and on special consumers