German households overpaid a total of 5.4 billion euros for electricity and gas in the first five months of 2026, according to data from the Bild newspaper, citing calculations by Verivox, a portal that monitors utility prices.
German law allows homeowners and tenants to choose their own utility providers when building a home or moving in. If they do not do so, local utility companies, whose tariffs are usually higher, are automatically designated as their supplier. Customers can choose a new supplier at any time, but according to the newspaper, a significant part of the population chooses not to do so and therefore overpays.
Just over a fifth of households buy electricity from utility companies, paying an extra 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. Another 38% of customers use a tariff that is 8 cents higher than the cheapest. The total overpayment for electricity for both customer groups in the first five months of the year amounted to EUR 3.5 billion. A similar situation arose in the gas sector: more than half of consumers paid two to four cents more per kilowatt-hour than they would have paid with another supplier. Their total additional costs amounted to EUR 1.9 billion.
„Electricity prices are expected to rise as early as 2026. This makes it even more important not to overpay. "Gas and electricity consumers should review their current tariffs and change them if necessary," Verivox expert Torsten Stork told the newspaper.