Vattenfall and GASAG Grundversorgung: Why Berlin's Default Energy Tariff Still Costs More

The Official Rule

Berlin doesn’t run electricity and gas through one household utility company the way some German cities do. Electricity’s legally designated basic supplier (Grundversorger) is Vattenfall Europe Sales GmbH, which is what you land on automatically, under its “Tarif Basis,” if you move in and never sign a contract of your own. Gas’s Grundversorger is a separate company, GASAG AG, which has held that role in the city since 1847 and supplies newcomers on the same automatic basis under its “ERDGAS Komfort” tariff. Neither company is doing anything improper by charging what it charges: Grundversorgung exists because Section 36 of the Energiewirtschaftsgesetz (Energy Industry Act) requires a fixed local supplier to serve any household on request, no contract, no credit check, no minimum term. That obligation to serve anyone instantly is exactly why it’s priced as the most expensive normal option rather than the cheapest one.

Even a real price cut hasn’t changed that pattern. On 1 April 2026, Vattenfall lowered its electricity Grundversorgung work price (Arbeitspreis) by 6.46 cents, from 44.39 to 37.93 cents per kWh gross, while its monthly base fee (Grundpreis) actually rose, from 10.90 to 13.40 euros. Net effect: about a 10.12 percent reduction, worth roughly 112 euros a year to a household using 2,200 kWh annually, according to Vattenfall’s own figures. The same announcement contains the more useful admission: Vattenfall states plainly that the large majority of Berlin electricity customers have already left Grundversorgung for cheaper Sondervertrag offers elsewhere, which is the company confirming, in its own press release, that its default rate isn’t the one worth staying on.

GASAG’s gas Grundversorgung moved in the same direction for a different reason. From 1 January 2026, the federal Gasspeicherumlage (gas storage levy) was abolished, and GASAG passed the full 0.34 cents per kWh gross reduction straight through, worth roughly 41 euros a year to a typical apartment using 12,000 kWh, and about 68 euros to a house using 20,000 kWh. Under GASAG’s current price sheet, a typical apartment (consumption up to 15,000 kWh a year) pays a 9.52 euro monthly base fee plus 11.64 cents per kWh; larger consumption bands get a different base fee and work price combination under what GASAG calls Bestabrechnung, automatic billing at whichever tier works out cheapest for your actual usage.

Leaving either Grundversorgung is deliberately painless on paper: no minimum term, two weeks’ notice, and if Vattenfall or GASAG raises Grundversorgung prices you can cancel immediately without waiting out the notice period at all. What isn’t painless anymore is timing. Since a nationwide reform on 6 June 2025, neither an electricity nor a gas registration can be backdated: a contract you sign today only counts from today, or from the next available switch date (now technically achievable within 24 hours on a business day), never retroactively to your actual move-in date. The weeks you already spent on Grundversorgung before switching stay billed at Grundversorgung rates, regardless of when you eventually get around to comparing tariffs.

There’s one more wrinkle in Berlin’s setup that a single-utility city like Munich doesn’t have. Vattenfall Europe Sales GmbH bills you for electricity, but it hasn’t owned Berlin’s actual power lines since 1 July 2021, when the cables, substations, and roughly 35,000 kilometers of distribution grid, previously run by the Vattenfall-owned Stromnetz Berlin GmbH, passed back into full ownership by the State of Berlin, ending a concession dispute that had run since 2011. Stromnetz Berlin remains the fixed grid operator today no matter which supplier or tariff you choose, you can’t switch it, compare it, or opt out of it. Gas works the same way: NBB Netzgesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg operates the pipe network GASAG’s gas actually travels through, a separate company from GASAG the supplier. Switching your Lieferant, whether that means a Sondervertrag from Vattenfall or GASAG themselves or a move to a comparison-site competitor entirely, never touches either grid company.

Photo by Anh-Bao Tran-Le on Pexels

What Real People Say

The advice repeated across expat-facing guides covering Berlin’s electricity market lines up with the official framing: Grundversorgung is described as reliably one of the pricier tariff categories, and the fix isn’t loyalty to a big recognizable name like Vattenfall, it’s running your postcode, an annual consumption estimate, and your meter number through Verivox or Check24 before assuming the familiar option is also the cheap one. One Berlin-focused expat guide frames it plainly: staying on basic supply out of inertia means you “won’t get the best prices,” and the gap compounds every billing cycle you leave it unaddressed.

Running the numbers yourself takes a few minutes: put your postcode, an annual consumption estimate, and your meter number into Check24’s electricity comparison for the Vattenfall side, and its gas comparison for GASAG, before assuming either default is your cheapest option.

The warning that comes up most consistently, and the one worth taking seriously before clicking the first result a comparison site shows you, concerns bonus-heavy tariffs. A Marktwächter Energie study cited by the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband found that bonus contracts genuinely save money, but reliably only in their first twelve months; once the Neukundenbonus or Sofortbonus is paid out (typically with your first annual statement) and you’re no longer a “new” customer, the underlying price often reverts to something considerably less competitive. The practical habit several guides recommend: treat any comparison-site ranking sorted by “price including bonus” with some suspicion, and diary a reminder to re-shop around month eleven rather than assuming this year’s cheap deal stays cheap into year two.

“Preisgarantie” (price guarantee) sounds airtight, and it isn’t automatically. The Verbraucherzentrale Berlin’s own tracked cases include Primastrom, Voxenergie, and Nowenergy, three suppliers that raised prices on customers holding advertised price-guarantee contracts anyway; the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband pursued Musterfeststellungsklagen (model declaratory actions) against them and reached settlements that let affected customers claim refunds without going to court individually. The registration window for those particular settlements has since closed, but the underlying lesson hasn’t expired: a Preisgarantie typically locks the Arbeitspreis component only, not network charges, taxes, or new levies, and it doesn’t enforce itself. If your Abschlag jumps despite a guarantee you’re holding, that’s worth challenging rather than assuming it must be correct.

Step by Step

1. From your move-in date, assume you’re on Grundversorgung the moment you draw power or gas without a signed contract. It’s not dangerous, but every week on it is a week you can’t get back at a cheaper rate later, since switches only apply forward.
2. Before or within your first days in the apartment, run your postcode, an annual consumption estimate, and your meter number through Verivox or Check24, comparing both Vattenfall’s or GASAG’s own Sondervertrag options and third-party providers rather than assuming the incumbent name is automatically the cheapest or the priciest choice.
3. If a listed tariff looks unusually cheap, check whether that price already includes a Neukundenbonus paid out after 12 months, and work out what you’d actually pay from month 13 onward before signing on the strength of the headline number.
4. Read the Mindestlaufzeit and the cancellation deadline before the contract’s automatic renewal (capped at one month before the term ends under the 2022 Gesetz für faire Verbraucherverträge, down from the previous three), and put that date somewhere you’ll actually see it.
5. If a tariff advertises a Preisgarantie, check what it actually covers, usually the Arbeitspreis only, not network fees or new levies, and keep an eye on your annual statement anyway rather than assuming the guarantee polices itself.
6. Let your new provider handle cancelling the old one (nearly every signup form includes that authorization), and read your own meter (Zählernummer and Zählerstand) on the day the switch takes effect, so you have your own record if the two suppliers ever disagree about the handover date.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general framework for choosing between Grundversorgung and a Sondervertrag for electricity and gas in Berlin, current as of mid-2026. It is not financial advice. Prices, levies, and switching rules can change, confirm current tariffs and terms directly with Vattenfall, GASAG, or your chosen comparison site before signing anything.