Giessen. In a legal dispute between Stadtwerke Gießen and Mieterverein Gießen e.V., the Giessen District Court has upheld SWG's arguments on all key points. The tenants' association must now pay the gas bill in arrears.
The association had previously questioned the legality of the SWG price adjustments and subsequently failed to pay its gas bill for the building at Bleichstraße 28 in full. Stadtwerke had provided evidence, including an expert opinion, that the price adjustments made were reasonable and had also tried several times to reach an out-of-court settlement with the tenants' association.
The district court has now confirmed that SWG is authorised in principle to make price adjustments to the tenants' association supplied under the "Heating 2" tariff, thus contradicting the association's claim that the "Heating 2" heating gas contract is a special contract. The court also pointed out that the tenants' association could have looked for another gas supplier on the liberalised energy market from 2007, but had not done so. As there had been genuine freedom in the choice of provider in this case, the SWG gas price could not be contested under Section 315 of the German Civil Code.
The tenants' association Gießen e.V. still has the opportunity to appeal against the judgement of the district court.