Just moved into your new Berlin apartment? One of the first things you need to do: Find an electricity provider. Here’s simple calculator to compare power suppliers in Germany.
To cut a long story short: Electricity is pretty expensive in Germany, in comparison to other countries. This is due to the Energy transition (German: Energiewende) policy be the German government: To address climate change, renewable power sources like wind and solar energy are subsidised, to make them more common and affordable in the long run.
In the short run though, Germans need to pay a tax on energy consumption, making it more expensive than before.
How to use the Check24 electricity comparison?
To find a cheap electricity provider, we will the comparison service of Check24 – not only because they compare (so we only need to check at one place), but also because Check24 often has special discount deals with the providers, giving you better rates than at the providers directly.
First, we need to give it some essential data about our home.
What is my postal code?
You need to enter your postal code so that Check24 can know which providers are available at your house.
In case you don’t know your postal code: The simplest way to it is check via Google Maps. Just type in your street and house number into the search field, click search, and Google will show you the postal code right unter the search field:
How to find your postal code on Google Maps.
What is my consumption?
That’s one of the trickiest question, filling whole forum threads and websites.
But before we begin: You should know that they are asking only for an estimation. It is only used for calculating you monthly pre-payments. But after a year, you will receive a bill for you actual consumption, and effectively only pay for that. Thus:
- in case your estimation was too low, you will pay the rest,
- in case your estimation was too high, you will get money back.
So don’t be worried too much about getting your estimation wrong.
But now, some actual suggestions for making your estimation. According to the data about household averages in Germany, the consumptions look like this:
| Household size | no water heating | incl. water heating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | 1.600 kWh | 2.100 kWh |
| 2 people | 2.300 kWh | 3.400 kWh |
| 3 people | 3.100 kWh | 4.400 kWh |
| 4 people | 4.000 kWh | 5.500 kWh |
| 5 people | 4.500 kWh | 6.700 kWh |
However, I find these numbers too high. For instance me personally, living in a (small) single-room apartment, with a laptop, wifi router, TV and lamps (but no washing machine) I only consume 600 kWh per year.
Thus: I’d recommend to use a lower estimation than the table tells you. And if you’re afraid it might be too low, simply save some additional money in a free savings account, and get some interest rate until the actual yearly bill arrives. 😉
More options
The further options are not that important.
- Green energy will limit the offers to sources like wind, solar, water etc.
- use commercial if you’re ordering electricity e.g. for your office
- Bonuses: These are (mostly one-time) bonuses, paid either by the provider or by Check24. I checked the results both with and without bonuses, and currently they make it on average only 10% cheaper. I think that’s not much, keeping in mind that these bonuses are applied only one time, for the first year. So I recommend searching without them.
Updating the results
To update the results, click Recalculate every time after you’ve updated the form.
Reading the results table
In the table, you see in every row an individual offer. If a provider has several offers, you see them all in their own row.
Price details
First on the left, you see the (estimated) price for the whole year. Right next to it, you can click on (i) and you will see the price details. The most important lines:
- Arbeitspreis pro kWh: Consumption price per kWh (if you’d consume nothing, this would be 0)
- Grundpreis: Basic fee per year (will always be charged)
- Gesamtpreis im 1. Jahr: Total price in the first year
- Geschätzter Abschlag: Estimated prepayment per month
Using these, you should be able to decide if that contract fits for you. For instance, if you consume rather a lot, look for a low Arbeitspreis. Or if you happen to be away from home often, a low Grundpreis might be better.
Contract term
In the middle, there is a list of features of this contract. The most important one is the contract term. It can be between
- 2 weeks and
- 12 months
If you’re afraid about a long contract term (because you might move out from your place earlier), here’s what you should now: Under German law, you can cancel an electricity contract earlier, if you move to another place where your current provider is not operating, or where your price would be higher. So this should not be a problem.
Pick and order an electricity plan
To pick a plan, click on continue. A new page opens and you’re now on the server of Check24.
Anbieterwechsel oder Neuanmeldung beantragen
This page screen is simply a welcome page of Check24. It says that you’re about to order a new electricity contract, within 5 minutes, and with no extra fee.
Click weiter to proceed.
Address
Now enter your personal data:
Ihre E-Mail-Adresse
- E-Mail-Adresse: Your email address
- E-Mail-Adresse wiederholen: Repeat your email address
Ihre Lieferadresse (Stromabnahmestelle)
Here enter your address where the electricity shall be delivered to (i.e. address of your apartment in Germany).
- Anrede / Titel: Salutation (Herr = Mr., Frau = Ms.)
- Vorname / Nachname: First name / Last name
- PLZ / Ort: Postal code / city (is already prefilled from the comparison form. If you need to change it, go back to the results table)
- mobile phone number or landline
- Geburtsdatum: Your birthday (in DD.MM.YYYY format)
- Neueinzug: Whether you
- moved in newly (probably yes),
- or if you already live there, and just want to change your current provider
- Art des Neueinzugs: Type of moving in
- Umzug: Someone else already lived in the apartment before (probably yes)
- Erstbezug: You are the first tenant in the (newly built) house
- Datum Neueinzug: Date of moving in
- Abweichende Rechnungsadresse: If the bill shall be sent to another address (probably no)
Anschluss: connection
- Zählernummer in neuer Wohnung: Number of your electricity meter in your new apartment. Usually you can find it on the meter itself, sometimes also in your rental contract.
Zahlungsdaten: payment data
- Zahlungsart: type of payment
- Lastschrift: direct debit. You monthly rate will be automatically deducted from your bank account (recommended, saves a lot of time)
- Überweisung: transfer. You have to (manually) pay you monthly rate to the provider.
If you pick Lastschrift (direct debit), you have to provide your bank account details
- Your address
- Einwilligung zum SEPA-Lastschriftverfahren: That you agree to the direct debit procedure
Bestätigung: confirmation
You confirm your order here, acknowledge that Check24 will process your data. And you can change your mind and revoke your order within 14 days.
Click on Kauf abschließen to submit the order.
Alles klar? Then here we go with the comparison table. If you still have questions, ask in the comments!
Check24 electricity comparison tool
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(Can’t see the form above? Click this link. *)
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