This article first appeared on RTL.de
How much will energy cost us in the future? Since the beginning of the year, many Germans have been anxiously awaiting the new discount plans from their energy suppliers. Despite the price brake, it will be more expensive, and most customers are already expecting that. For many Germans, the only question left is how much more expensive their energy supply will be each month. Eprimo customers are all the more shocked about their new discount plan. Because here it seems as if the provider had miscalculated. At least that’s what Eprimo customers suspect, who are currently exchanging views on the social media platform Reddit about the massive price increases of the eco-electricity supplier.
“With the best will in the world, I can’t figure out the basis on which Eprimo wants to increase the advance payment more than eightfold,” criticizes an Eprimo customer and publishes his advance payment plan. So far, the user has paid 110 euros per month. Now he says: “Your new discount with price brake: 877 euros/month.” A horror price increase, so agree with him more users. He continues to ask the community: “Where is the error in reasoning?”
Other affected customers exchange information on Reddit. Numerous users describe that they have also been sent letters with demands for advance payments that are far too high.
The users agree that the letter is incorrect “and therefore not permissible”. Even with the documents of an Eprimo customer, which are available to RTL, the editors only get 189.40 euros per month instead of a discount of 626 euros.
How can that be? A Reddit user suspects a technical error as the cause. “Many utilities work with SAP, which notoriously tends to calculate incorrect period consumption despite correct meter values,” he claims. But is there actually such a calculation error behind it? When asked by RTL, the energy supplier explained what was behind the price shock for Eprimo customers.
In fact, the number on the letter is real, according to the provider. Luckily, things aren’t going as badly for them as customers suspect. The Eprimo spokesman also understands the confusion and speaks of a “communication error.” The excitement was great because the letters did not clearly communicate what amount had to be paid and when.
“Due to the electricity and grass price brake laws, all energy suppliers are now obliged to provide their customers with information on the current deduction amount. Since this is happening for almost all of our customers in the middle of the current billing period, we now had to recalculate the deductions and any additional claims that might have accrued Normally, these would only have appeared on the coming annual statement as an additional payment request – but now, to protect our customers from high one-off additional payments, we have included these additional payments in the next pending deductions,” replies Eprimo press spokesman Roman Zurhold to the RTL request.
However, it is really difficult to read from the letter that the high sums also result from additional claims and that customers may have to pay a significantly lower sum again from April. Customers should pay particular attention to a graphic under which a specific payment date is written. According to the provider, this means that it is not a matter of a monthly payment claim.
Even if many Eprimo customers may be relieved at first about this news, the shock of the extreme discount demand is certainly still deep. This is also currently reflected in the tenfold increase in the number of calls to Eprimo, which, according to the supplier, is also due to the fact that many customers have questions about the price brake. But one thing is clear: With such insane amounts, it is always better to ask more precisely.
