Tips

Tips and Information on the Consumption of Electricity, Gas and Water

Reduce energy consumption, save costs and stay out of trouble: we have prepared a number of tips for you in order to help you with all issues concerning the topic of electricity, gas and water.

Electricity consumption
Do you know how much electricity you consume? Or how much electricity a household should consume on average? You can use our examples to check whether your electricity requirements are in line with the norm. Our energy-saving tips will also help you to save a couple of euros here and there.

Drei Beispielrechnungen für unterschiedliche Haushaltsgrößen:

Average consumption
Flat in
a block of flats
(electricity consumption without warm water)
Flat in
a block of flats
(warm water heated by electricity)
Household with 1 person 1.300 – 1.700 kWh/year 1.800 – 2.400 kWh/year
Household with 2 people 2.000 – 2.500 kWh/year 2.800 – 3.500 kWh/year
Household with 1 people 3.600 – 4.700 kWh/year 5.500 – 7.000 kWh/year

Can you find your consumption values in our table? If so, your electricity requirements correspond to the German average. This is good, but you can definitely still save some energy and lower your electricity costs as a result. Is the number of kilowatt hours (kWh) in your annual statement higher? If so, you can make the most of even larger opportunities to lower your energy requirements. You should definitely refer to our energy-saving tips!

Source: Electricity table (Stromspiegel) for Germany in 2014

Energy saving

Tips and trips for saving energy and lowering costs:

In Bremen and Bremerhaven, you can make the most of a multitude of free and low-priced services for reducing the energy costs in your household:

Correctly understanding bills from energy providers

With the following three keywords, we provide you with an explanation of the most important things that you need to know about swb billing procedures.

Billing amount

What is this and when is an adjustment shown?

The billing amount (Abschlagsbetrag) is the amount of money charged by your energy provider every month for your average electricity, gas or water costs. Your billing amounts are determined on the basis of your energy consumption in the previous year. As an swb customer, you have 11 payment dates per year and receive an annual statement from swb once a year.

The monthly amounts are sometimes set too high or too low when measured against your actual consumption. This may occur when, for example, old household appliances and bad heating settings lead to high energy consumption, or when the number of people in your household changes. If your billing amounts were too low, you will have to pay a large amount of money at the end of the year, when you receive your annual statement. You should therefore check your consumption now and again by taking your own meter reading and asking the swb customer service team to check whether your billing amounts are still suitable. This will help you to avoid additional payments.

Consumption check

When and why is this a sensible idea?

Not everybody knows how much electricity, gas or water their household uses every month and whether the amount specified in their energy bill is appropriate. In order to keep a better eye on your own consumption and your energy costs, it is well worth checking your meter on a frequent basis. To do so, simply take the meter reading for your household and pass it on to the swb customer service team. Swb will then be able to tell you, whether your consumption has increased, and you should expect to have to make an additional payment.

Customer service hotline:
Bremen: +49 421 3593590
Bremerhaven: +49 471 4771111
Monday to Friday: 8:00am-6:00pm

Payment method

What are the benefits of each individual option?

Direct debit:
Payment by direct debit is easy, convenient and reliable. All you need to do is to grant your energy provider permission to use the bank collection service to directly debit your monthly billing amounts from your account, when payment is due.

Transfer:
When paying by bank transfer, you transfer the money due from your bank to the account of your energy provider. If you do not pay on time, you will receive your first payment reminder just seven days after the billing amount becomes due.

Cash payment:
To make a cash payment, you need to bring the money to your bank yourself and the bank will then pay it directly to swb. Cash payments cannot, however, be made in the swb Customer Centres. While all banks will charge you their normal fees for the cash payment of your bill, the “Postbank” branches in the Weserpark, Roland-Center, Domsheide and Vegesacker Heerstrasse in Bremen and in Schifferstrasse and the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) in Bremerhaven will not charge you a payment fee because it is covered by swb. When paying your bill in cash, please fill in a payment form.

“swb leicht gemacht” – Deutsch
“swb made easy” – Englisch
“swb mode d’emploi” – Französisch
“ПЕРЕХОД В SWB: БЫСТРО И ПРОСТО” – Russisch
“YENI BASLAYANLAR IÇIN SWB” – Türkisch
“swb بمنتهى السهولة” – Arabisch
“SWB ЛЕСНО УПЪТВАНЕ” – Bulgarisch
“SWB – ΕΥΚΟΛΑ ΚΑΙ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΑ” – Griechisch
“swb po prostu” – Polnisch
“prezentare swb” – Rumänisch