ExtraEnergie's price hikes of over 200% on guaranteed tariffs ruled unlawful in Germany

In summer 2022, energy supplier ExtraEnergie of Monheim — selling power and gas under brands like ExtraGas, PrioEnergie and HitEnergie — announced drastic price rises, even for customers with a price guarantee. Per an October 2026 Der Spiegel report, one household's electricity was set to jump from 28.3 to over 74 cents per kWh, and a Memmingen customer's gas from 7.9 to 24.7 cents — bills up by thousands of euros in some cases.

The company also used tricks: letters offering a €50 credit steered customers to QR codes where a careless click was presented as active consent to a higher advance payment. It justified the increases with the energy crisis and post-Ukraine-war procurement costs — even though ExtraEnergie had made over €400 million in operating profit between 2015 and 2020, almost all of it paid as 'licence fees' for billing and pricing software to a sister company in Cyprus, taxed at 2.5%.

The consumer federation vzbv called the increases unlawful and filed a collective action in 2023; more than 4,200 customers joined. On 5 October 2026 the Higher Regional Court of Hamm (OLG Hamm) agreed: all challenged increases from late 2022 are invalid, and the originally agreed price continues to apply.

The court rejected ExtraEnergie's impossibility argument: by formulating a fixed-price guarantee the company had deliberately taken on the procurement risk, and its business model was aimed precisely at winning customers or stopping them switching. Even serious liquidity problems would not have justified passing the increases on. 'No company may enrich itself on crises,' said vzbv board member Ramona Popp.

All challenged late-2022 increases declared invalid — customers keep the original price; refunds to follow, with a BGH appeal still possible.

The price guarantee was the product: the court held that selling certainty meant accepting the procurement risk that came with it.

The hikes ran to over 200% and hit guarantee customers first, converting a crisis into a windfall at customers' expense.

Consent to higher instalments was engineered through a €50-credit letter and a QR-code click the company later cited as active agreement.

The crisis excuse sat badly beside €400M in pre-crisis profit shifted to a Cyprus sister company at a 2.5% tax rate.

A price guarantee is a traded risk, not a slogan: if you sell certainty to win customers, a crisis is when you pay for it — and courts will not let you hand the risk back when it comes due.

Whether ExtraEnergie will seek a revision before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) remains open. Customers who registered in the collective-action register by July 2026 are protected from the statute of limitations; for others the deadline is generally end-2026 for 2023 invoices. vzbv is pursuing collective actions against other suppliers including Gas.de, Avacon, Stadtwerke Neubrandenburg and Hansewerk Natur.