No. Current supply to your home will not be interrupted at any time. The local network operator is obliged by law to supply electricity without interruption. Neither changing to another supplier nor the quality of green electricity has any impact on the security of your power supply.

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No, you only need to pay for the quantity of electricity you have consumed

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No, your new green electricity supplier will take care of all formalities once you have posted the contract. But don't worry – current supply to your home will not be interrupted at any time.

You won't have to pay any fee for changing and any advance payments you may have already made to your former supplier will be taken into account in the final bill.

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Usually not. If you do not have your own electricity meter in your apartment, but receive an electricity bill from your landlord, you need to contact him.

The same is true if you live in a multi-storey dwelling: As long as you have your personal electricity meter, you are free to choose your power supplier.

Sometimes the meters are situated in the cellar or other rooms not easily accessible. If so, you should ask your landlord or caretaker.

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Yes, you can change electricity provider, if you use night storage heating, a heat pump or an electric water heating system. Not only the network operator, but also other electricity providers may offer cheap night tariffs since 2011.

Among the recommended suppliers of green electricity, EWS Schönau and Naturstrom have such offers. But the prices are usually dearer than the ones of the big corporations. If you are interested in the exact tariffs and documents, please ask the companies in question for further details.

Note: Your night storage heating, heat pump or electric water heating system needs to be interruptible.

In case your installation has an extra electricity meter, you may purchase your electricity from two different providers and e.g. only change to green electricity with your basic consumption.

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Yes, the solar collectors on your roof are independent from your electricity supply: You supply the grid with current from your solar collectors and you are supplied with current from the grid at the same time.

Your local network operator is still obliged by law to take the electricity from your solar panels, no matter which supplier you receive your electricity from. Network operators have to pay for the green electricity received according to the feed-in tariff determined in the Renewable Energy Law (EEG).

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Your local network operator stays in charge of all technical questions and problems concerning your building connection. The network operator is legally obliged to ensure the normal operation of the grid and of your building connection, no matter from which supplier you receive your electricity.

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No, the meter and the power lines will still be used. They are property of the network operator. Your green electricity provider pays a fee for the usage of the meters and power lines and that is already included in your electricity tariff.

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As soon as your electricity meter is read for the first time after changing supplier, you will receive your new bill. There will be monthly payments as usual.

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Yes, but not in every country. In some places, e.g. in Switzerland, power customers are not free to choose their energy provider yet. In other countries, this is possible and there are independent green electricity suppliers like in Germany. See some recommendations by environmental organisations here:

Green electricity in Austria

Global 2000 and Greenpeace Austria recommend: Alpen Adria Energie (AAE) and oekostrom AG

Green electricity in Belgium

Greenpeace Belgium recommends: Ecopower, Energie 2030, Wase Wind

Green electricity in France

Sortir du Nucléaire, Greenpeace France, Amis de la Terre and other organisations recommend: Enercoop

Green electricity in Great Britain

Greenpeace UK and Friends of the Earth recommend the Green Electricity Marketplace for searching your regional suppliers of green electricity.

Green electricity in Luxembourg

Greenpeace Luxembourg recommends: eida.green, green_energy, nova naturstrom,  Sudstrom Terra Invest, SwitchBLUE

Green electricity in the Netherlands

Greenpeace Netherlands and WISE recommend: Greenchoice, Windunie and Eneco

Green electricity in Scandinavia

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation SLL/ FANC certifies green electricity tariffs of suppliers from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Russia with the EKOenergy label. But this certificate is also given to corporations promoting nuclear energy.

According to Greenpeace Finland there are only three electricity providers which are independent from the nuclear industry: Lappeenrannan Energia, Kraft&Kultur and St1
 

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