German households can buy electricity or gas from the local default supplier, or they can sign a contract with another supplier. For the second kind, the Energy Industry Act sets a form. Section 41b says: Energielieferverträge mit Haushaltskunden außerhalb der Grundversorgung und deren Kündigung durch den Energielieferanten bedürfen der Textform. Energy supply contracts with household customers outside the default supply, and their cancellation by the supplier, require text form. The contract must exist as a readable text that can be stored, such as a letter or an e-mail. A yes spoken on the phone does not meet this requirement. The same section also obliges the supplier to confirm a customer’s cancellation in text form within one week.
energy
47.6 Percent
In May 2022 the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg announced die effizienteste Solarzelle der Welt, the most efficient solar cell in the world. Its Wirkungsgrad, its efficiency, was 47.6 percent. The institute had raised the value from 46.1 percent. The four-junction cell was measured under sunlight concentrated 665 times.
The Winter of 2022
During the energy crisis of 2022, a federal energy-saving ordinance applied for six months from 1 September. Its full name is Verordnung zur Sicherung der Energieversorgung über kurzfristig wirksame Maßnahmen. Illuminated advertising had to be switched off from 10 p.m. until 4 p.m. the next day. Shops had to keep their doors closed when an open door let heat escape. In offices, 19 degrees became permissible instead of 20.
The Hay Box
The Kochkiste, the cooking box, is a wooden box with a lid, almost a cube. A pot is brought to the boil on the stove and then put into the insulated box, where the food finishes cooking in its own heat.
It was promoted around 1900 as a kitchen aid that saved energy and money. A booklet of 1915, Die Kriegsküche, the war kitchen, showed it for energy-saving cooking. It came back when fuel was short, in the Second World War and during the Berlin Blockade of 1948 and 1949.
The Last Three Reactors
On 15 April 2023, Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors: Emsland, Neckarwestheim 2 and Isar 2. The Federal Agency for Civic Education wrote that this sealed an exit planned for more than twenty years. On 30 June 2011, the Bundestag had decided that the last reactors should be shut down by the end of 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine raised doubts about energy security, and on 11 November 2022 the Bundestag voted to let the three run until 15 April 2023. The final shutdown remained disputed. The CDU and CSU wanted the plants kept in reserve so that they could return to the grid in an emergency. On 10 November 2023, the Bundestag rejected an AfD motion to reactivate the plants, with 550 votes against and 69 in favor. It also rejected an AfD bill to stop their dismantling, with 535 votes against.
Power Plants That May Not Close
Some German power plants no longer produce electricity for the market, but they are not allowed to shut down for good. They are system-relevant and form the Netzreserve, the grid reserve. They run only when the operators of the transmission grid call for them. The cost of keeping them ready, and of using them, is paid through grid fees. In May 2026, the Federal Network Agency confirmed a need of 7,407 megawatts of reserve plants for the winter of 2026 to 2027. German plants cover 4,742 megawatts. The remaining 2,665 megawatts are to come from plants in neighboring countries. The agency’s president, Klaus Müller, said that the reserve is needed until the grids are better expanded.
Drinking Water Before Gas
On 24 June 2016 the Bundestag decided to ban unconventional fracking for commercial purposes. Only four test drillings for scientific purposes were to be allowed, with the consent of the state concerned. In 2021 the Bundestag was to review the ban on the basis of scientific findings.
The SPD explained the decision in a leaflet: “Wir stellen die Gesundheit und den Schutz des Trinkwassers an erste Stelle – vor wirtschaftliche Interessen.” We put health and the protection of drinking water first, before economic interests.
Where Foresight Ends
German atomic law requires the precautions against damage that are necessary nach dem Stand von Wissenschaft und Technik, by the state of science and technology. In 1978 the Federal Constitutional Court ruled on the fast breeder reactor at Kalkar and said how far that duty goes. To demand that every risk be ruled out absolutely hieße die Grenzen menschlichen Erkenntnisvermögens verkennen, would misjudge the limits of human knowledge. Uncertainties beyond dieser Schwelle praktischer Vernunft, this threshold of practical reason, must be borne by all citizens.
The German word Restrisiko, residual risk, is often traced to this decision. It does not appear in the text.
When the Lights Go Out
German households choose their electricity supplier freely, but the wires belong to someone else. In a power cut the supplier can do nothing. A comparison portal tells the customers of one supplier: Bei einem Stromausfall ist nicht GMX Strom, sondern Ihr Netzbetreiber zuständig. In a power cut, your network operator is responsible, not GMX Strom. The next line runs through the house. Under the ordinance on low-voltage connections, the owner is responsible for the electrical installation hinter der Hausanschlusssicherung, behind the main house fuse.
Car-Free Sundays
On 25 November 1973 a nationwide ban on driving applied in West Germany for the first time. It was a response to sharply higher prices for fuel and heating oil. Under the Energy Security Act, driving was banned on four Sundays.
A temporary speed limit of 100 km/h on the Autobahn and 80 km/h on country roads also applied. On the empty roads, people traveled by horse cart or by bicycle.