ROUNDUP: EnBW wants to sue because of Stromio layoffs

KARLSRUHE (dpa-AFX) – EnBW, according to its own statements, wants to be the first basic supplier to sue the electricity discounter Stromio because it terminated its customers at short notice. As a so-called basic supply company, EnBW is responsible for supplying electricity to more than 40,000 affected households, as the Karlsruhe group announced on Monday. “However, we consider Stromio’s actions to be unacceptable and illegal,” said Volker Bloch, who is responsible for end-customer business. Stromio passes the follow-up costs of a risk strategy on to customers and other market participants. Stromio initially did not respond to a request.

Because EnBW had to procure the required amounts of electricity for those affected at short notice at significantly higher prices, it would incur additional costs. The group is therefore preparing an action for reimbursement of expenses against Stromio GmbH. Lawsuits against other providers are not excluded, it said. Unlike some electricity providers, Stromio has not filed for bankruptcy.

Stromio had stopped deliveries shortly before Christmas, citing a “price explosion on the European energy trading centers”. Industry experts assume that hundreds of thousands of customers are affected. So-called basic suppliers – mostly municipal utilities – have to take on customers whose suppliers no longer deliver.

The Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries had criticized that this posed significant challenges for the member companies because of the exploding energy procurement prices. In such cases, he called on the federal government to give utilities temporary interest-free loans from the Reconstruction Loan Corporation. There is also an urgent need for legal protection for the legally secure introduction of tariffs for new customers in the basic service. EnBW supports these demands.

The Stromio company from Kaarst in North Rhine-Westphalia is in principle not an isolated case: According to the Federal Network Agency, a double-digit number of energy suppliers announced or completed the termination of supplies last year./kre/DP/stk