The Hesse consumer advice center demands that the low-cost electricity provider Stromio be held accountable for the damage caused to customers by the sudden stop in deliveries.
To this end, she is currently preparing a model declaratory action at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
“Stromio is breaching his contractual obligations.
That is unacceptable," says Philipp Wendt, head of the consumer advice center in Hesse.
"Contracts must be honored.
This principle also applies to companies.”
Petra Kirchhoff
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
Follow I follow
Stromio is one of the energy discounters who canceled hundreds of thousands of electricity customers retrospectively and without warning last December on the grounds that they could no longer deliver due to the high procurement prices on the energy exchanges.
Customers automatically slipped into the so-called replacement supply with the basic suppliers, where they have to pay significantly more than with their previous provider.
According to the Hessian consumer advocates, the amount of damage results from the difference.
Depending on the term, Wendt expects “several hundred euros” per contract to which customers are entitled to compensation.
The sharpest weapon of consumer protection
The consumer advice center in Hesse will soon be filing its lawsuit.
Anyone affected can enter themselves in the register of complaints as soon as the Federal Office of Justice has opened the register.
This usually takes a few weeks.
The consumer advice center provides information on the current status on its website (
www
. Verbraucherzentrale-hessen.de ).
Model declaratory actions are the sharpest instrument that consumer centers can use to take action against companies.
In the emissions scandal process against the VW car company, consumer advocates won a total of 750 million euros.