Your Electricity or Gas Supplier Went Insolvent in Cologne: RheinEnergie Takes Over Automatically for Three Months

What Happens When a Supplier Fails

Cheap online energy suppliers have gone under before, and the rule that protects you is the same everywhere in Germany. The Bundesnetzagentur explains that if your supplier is insolvent or the grid operator denies it use of the grid, you need not worry about your supply. The local default supplier takes over, and is obliged by law to do so. This is the Ersatzversorgung, a statutory emergency supply. It starts automatically when the grid operator assigns your connection point to the default supplier, and no contract needs to be signed.

In Cologne, the default supplier is RheinEnergie. It writes that it supplies Cologne and the region with electricity and gas without interruption and takes over automatically for three months at the conditions of the emergency supply.

Who Is the Default Supplier

The default supplier is the company with the most household customers in a grid area. RheinNetz, the grid operator, publishes a list by town, as of 1 January 2026, naming the RheinEnergie AG for Cologne. In neighbouring towns it differs: the list names Energieversorgung Leverkusen for Leverkusen and BELKAW for Bergisch Gladbach. If you live just outside the city, check which grid area you are in. The Bundesnetzagentur suggests asking the local grid operator if you do not know.

What It Costs

RheinEnergie says the prices of the emergency supply equal those of the basic supply, and publishes price sheets valid from 1 January 2026. In a press release announcing the new year’s prices, it stated gross prices of 31.48 cents per kWh for electricity in the RheinNetz area with an unchanged base price of 277.33 euros a year, and 12.34 cents per kWh for gas with a base price of 172.55 euros a year. Those were the announced figures for 1 January 2026, so check the current price sheet before you rely on them.

Two cautions from the regulator. First, the emergency tariff is generally dearer than other tariffs, so compare. Second, in the Ersatzversorgung prices can be changed on the first and fifteenth of a month without notice, and the default supplier must publish the prices of the last six months. Your consumption can also be estimated, so a meter reading helps.

What To Do

The Bundesnetzagentur lists what to do as soon as the supplier stops delivering:

1. Read your meter as soon as possible.
2. Report the reading to the grid operator (RheinNetz), to the local default supplier (RheinEnergie) and to your former supplier. Our page on submitting your electricity meter reading shows how.
3. Revoke your direct-debit authorisation to the insolvent supplier.
4. Delete standing orders at your bank, and make any outstanding payments only by transfer.
5. Consider withdrawing from your supply contract, which the regulator says you may do.
6. Choose a new supplier within the three months, or accept the basic supply.

The default supplier has to inform you in text form of the start and end of the emergency supply, and that a contract is needed after it ends, according to § 3 StromGVV. You do not need to cancel the old contract. RheinEnergie also says you cannot cancel the emergency supply retroactively, and that to leave it, you simply switch to another supplier or, if you are already its customer, choose another of its tariffs.

Money You Already Paid

The regulator warns against pre-payment offers: if your supplier goes insolvent, payments made in advance can be lost, although your supply is secured by the emergency supply. On its insolvency page, the regulator says a credit or bonus you were owed is not refunded during the preliminary proceedings. Once the proceedings are formally opened, you register it as a claim with the insolvency administrator, who then sends a form, and customers often recover only a small part, over several years. When you next choose a tariff, avoid paying many months ahead, and prefer monthly payments. Our page on choosing an energy tariff covers what to check.

If the Supplier Is Not Insolvent but Stops

Suppliers that end their business must announce it at least three months ahead, inform household customers and grid operators in text form and publish it on their website. They must keep their contracts until they are properly ended and may not stop earlier unless they have applied for insolvency. You then have time to choose before the emergency supply is needed.

Step by Step

1. Don’t panic: power and gas keep flowing.
2. Read the meter and report it to RheinNetz, RheinEnergie and your old supplier.
3. Revoke the direct debit and set payments by transfer.
4. Check the RheinEnergie price sheet and compare tariffs.
5. Sign a new contract within three months, or let the basic supply take over.
6. Keep your letters, for example the start and end dates of the emergency supply, and any notice from an insolvency administrator.

Compliance Note

This page summarises information published by the Bundesnetzagentur, the regulation on basic supply, RheinNetz and RheinEnergie as read in October 2026. Prices change, and the figures given are those RheinEnergie announced for 1 January 2026. It is not legal advice. For your own case, contact RheinEnergie, a consumer advice centre or the Bundesnetzagentur’s consumer service.