If your electricity or gas supplier has written to you in recent weeks, do not leave the letter unread. When a supplier announces higher prices from 1 January 2027, customers can usually end the contract early. The deadline is tighter than many assume: your termination must reach the supplier by 31 December 2026 at the latest. Simply sending it is not enough.
When did the letter have to arrive?
For special tariffs, suppliers must notify household customers at least one month before the change; in basic supply (Grundversorgung) it is six weeks. For New Year that works out at roughly 20 November for basic supply and about 1 December for special tariffs. The letter must state the reason, scope and conditions of the change and point to the right to terminate. A general reference to higher wholesale prices is not enough, and neither is a notice only in the customer portal. If something is missing, the increase may be invalid and you can object; the consumer advice service Verbraucherzentrale publishes a template letter.
How do I terminate properly, and is switching worth it?
Verbraucherzentrale advises terminating yourself rather than asking the new supplier to do it, otherwise the deadline can slip. Keep proof of delivery, for example registered post or an e-mail with confirmation. Check beforehand whether you would lose a bonus tied to a full contract year. You can also negotiate: compare new-customer tariffs and remind your current supplier of your right to leave.
For scale: the industry association BDEW puts the average new-customer electricity price in August 2026 at 37.0 cents per kilowatt-hour, or about €1,295 a year at 3,500 kWh. Of that, 9.2 cents are grid charges and 12.6 cents taxes, levies and surcharges. A rise of 3 cents adds roughly €105 a year. For gas, 1 cent more at 20,000 kWh costs about €200. There is no reliable average for existing contracts, so a price letter can only be judged against the market.
Why some suppliers may pass costs on: the transmission system operators have set provisional charges of 3.54 cents per kWh, up from 2.86 cents this year. They rest on a federal subsidy of about €5.5 billion from the Climate and Transformation Fund, roughly €1 billion less than in 2026. According to ZfK, the Economy Ministry expects average relief of 1.7 cents, 0.3 cents less than before. Cabinet has agreed; the Bundestag has not yet voted, and without legal certainty by 7 December the charges could come out higher. The electricity tax for households stays at 2.05 cents on the ZfK reading; the cut for all that Chancellor Merz announced is not part of it, and Finance Minister Klingbeil has rejected it.
Our assessment: many suppliers will probably pass on part of the grid costs, but how large the increases will be is open and depends on the Bundestag vote. The practical step is to check every letter from your supplier by mid-December and note the deadline. Without a letter there is no special right to terminate, though comparing tariffs is still worthwhile.
Sources: Verbraucherzentrale, ZfK, PwC, leinetal24
