Short Answer
You are legally required to grant entry to the official technician appointed to inspect and record your annual utility meters.
Ignoring or blocking these scheduled appointments permits the service company to estimate your annual consumption mathematically, which routinely results in heavily inflated billing metrics.
What Most Expats Don't Realize
You threw away a paper notification card left in your hallway because the designated four-hour weekday morning time slot conflicted with your office schedule. You skipped the makeup appointment notice as well, assuming the company would simply read the data digitally or wait until the following year. Because you failed to provide physical access to the measurement devices, the utility company generated a punitive, automated consumption estimate that cost you an extra €650 in unrecoverable service fees.
What To Do
- Bring your apartment keys directly to a trusted neighbor if you cannot be present during the announced inspection window.
- Check the physical face of your radiators and water meters to locate a small digital radio transmission icon that indicates remote data tracking capability.
- "Können wir einen neuen Termin für die Ablesung vereinbaren?" (Can we arrange a new appointment for the meter reading?) — call the number on the service postcard immediately to reschedule if a slot is missed.
The Truth
Germany’s residential code grants utility infrastructure companies statutory access rights to private living spaces for annual measurement verifications. The system penalizes uncooperative tenants automatically through administrative defaults, treating any lack of physical verification as a baseline liability.