How the Comparison Works
Commerce for Agents compares household electricity and gas tariffs in Germany and, on request, files the switch to a chosen tariff. This page explains where the data comes from, which tariffs appear, how they are ranked, what the labels mean, and what does not influence the result. It is the basis every comparison delivered by the Service follows, whether an AI agent shows it as cards or reads it out in a conversation.
1. Where the data comes from
Offer data, prices and the comparison logic are supplied live by our data partner, an energy tariff comparison provider based in Germany that covers the large majority of the German household market. It records the tariffs suppliers publish or provide to it directly; suppliers must be registered with the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). Special tariffs offered only to existing customers are not included because they are not published. Every comparison queries the current market data; a result is kept for 24 hours so the agent can answer follow-up questions, show details and open the booking form for it.
2. Which tariffs appear
By default a comparison shows tariffs that can be ordered online through the Service, one tariff per provider (its cheapest for the stated consumption), and leaves out prepayment tariffs, tariffs that require a deposit, package tariffs with a fixed kWh bundle, and dynamic tariffs whose price follows the exchange price by the hour. Dynamic tariffs are hidden because their first-year price is only a forecast. An agent can widen each of these defaults on request: several tariffs per provider, prepayment, deposit or package tariffs, and dynamic tariffs. A result is one page of the ranked market; the response states how many offers match in total and how to see more.
3. Which tariffs are excluded
Tariffs that could mislead consumers or whose conditions are not transparent are excluded by our data partner and never reach the Service, for example package tariffs without a price guarantee over the full package term. Where a provider draws serious consumer complaints, our data partner may flag or remove it; we adopt these decisions.
4. Ranking
Unless the user asks for a different order, offers are ranked by the total cost of the first contract year for the stated annual consumption: working price times consumption plus the base price, including taxes, levies and network charges, minus the one-time bonuses that count under Section 5. The monthly figure on a card is that total divided by twelve. On request an agent can rank by customer rating instead. Price ties keep the order delivered by our data partner.
5. Bonuses
By default only bonuses that meet our data partner's consumer-protection guidelines are counted: they must be tied to the tariff, credited within the first contract year, and not out of proportion to the price of the tariff. Bonuses that fail these tests are ignored in the ranking, and the agent can switch to counting every bonus or none at all. Each offer carries its price with and without bonuses, so the second contract year can be judged too.
6. Price guarantees
Offers state whether and how long the price is guaranteed. Three kinds exist and are named as such in the results: a full price guarantee covers every price component except changes in taxes and levies that the provider is obliged to pass on; a limited price guarantee excludes levies and network charges, which may change; an energy price guarantee covers only the energy component of the price. A guarantee may run for a number of months or until a fixed date.
7. Green tariffs
An electricity tariff is marked "From 100% renewable energy" only if its supply is entirely renewable and this is proven by guarantees of origin registered with the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt). Certificates delivered with the tariff, such as TÜV Nord or ok-power, are shown with it. A gas tariff is marked "With renewable gas share" only if it contains a declared share of biogas or hydrogen; the shares are stated for every such tariff. Tariffs whose green claim rests on carbon-offset payments ("climate gas", "climate neutral") are not marked green, in line with the EU directive on empowering consumers for the green transition (EU 2024/825). The green filter returns only marked tariffs.
Whether these environmental claims are current, and whether providers meet the documentation duties the directive imposes on them, is checked by our data partner through a regular audit and verification process and kept up to date. Neither our data partner nor Yavio GmbH guarantees that this information is correct, complete or current.
8. Savings and the reference
The saving shown for an offer is the difference to a reference tariff for the same consumption. Without further information the reference is the basic supply tariff (Grundversorgung) of the local default supplier. If the user provides their own contract data, for example the future monthly payment or the price components from a bill, the reference is the user's own contract instead, and the result says so. A saving is never computed from a bill total, because bills are issued after a price change and show the old prices.
9. Regional tariffs and customer ratings
On request a comparison can be limited to regional providers: the local default supplier and providers with a public-sector majority within about 100 kilometres. Star ratings and review counts come from our data partner's closed rating system, in which only customers who actually switched through it can rate a provider. We do not alter, weight or remove ratings.
10. Commissions and independence
The Service is free for the user. When a switch is completed through the Service, Yavio GmbH receives a commission from its data partner or the provider. Commissions have no influence on which tariffs appear, on their prices, or on their order. The Service shows no advertisements and no sponsored placements.
11. Booking
When the user chooses a tariff, the agent opens a booking form; the user enters the contract data and the consents in that form. Yavio GmbH then submits the contract application to the provider on the user's behalf and arranges the cancellation of the previous contract. The contract is concluded between the user and the provider, which sends the contract documents and the withdrawal notice directly; the user can withdraw within 14 days.
12. US mobile phone plans
The US mobile plan comparison is separate from the energy comparison above and does not use our data partner. It ranks a curated selection of plans from US carriers and prepaid providers, not the whole market; every result states how many plans and providers the selection holds. Prices are collected manually from each provider's own pricing page and dated per plan. A plan is shown only if its price was confirmed on that page and the check is no older than 45 days; the result names the oldest check date among the plans shown. We re-check every plan monthly against its source page.
Plans are ranked by the 12-month average price per line for the stated number of lines: introductory promo months at the promo price, the remaining months at the regular price. The promo price is shown alongside. If a promo's duration is not known, the plan is ranked on its regular price. Plans that must be paid upfront for a year are labelled as such, and so are prices that exclude taxes and fees and plans that require autopay. A data need counts as met when a plan offers at least that much data: light at least 2 GB, moderate at least 5 GB, heavy at least 20 GB; "unlimited" matches only unlimited plans. Price ties are broken by more premium data, then more hotspot data. Coverage at an address is not checked, and no location is collected. Affiliate links, where present, do not change which plans appear or their order.
13. Travel eSIMs
The travel eSIM comparison is separate from the energy comparison and does not use our data partner. It ranks a curated selection of country eSIM packages from Airalo, Saily, Ubigi, Holafly and (for Japan) Nomad for eighteen destinations, not the whole market. Providers differ by destination: Airalo, Saily, Ubigi and Holafly cover every destination except the US, where Ubigi has no packages; Nomad covers Japan only. Each result names the providers present for the requested destination, and a destination with only two providers is labelled limited selection (none currently). The packages are for travellers to those countries, priced in USD. Prices are read manually in US dollars from each provider's own page and dated per package; they are regular list prices before tax and promo codes. Where a provider shows a sale price without stating an end date, we rank on the regular price and show the sale price alongside, labelled as such. A package is shown only if its price was confirmed on that page and the check is no older than 45 days. Only packages valid for the whole trip and with at least the requested data qualify; they are ranked by price, ties broken by the smaller validity overrun, then price per GB. The best package of each provider is listed first so one brand cannot fill the list. Results may carry affiliate links, which do not change the order.
14. VPN plans
The VPN comparison is separate from the energy comparison and does not use our data partner. It ranks a curated selection of plans from NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, Private Internet Access and CyberGhost, not the whole market. Prices are US prices in USD, collected manually from each provider's own pricing page and dated per plan; a plan is shown only if its price was confirmed there and the check is no older than 45 days.
Plans are ranked by effective monthly cost over the preferred term (1, 12, 24 or 36 months): the upfront price plus any renewals needed to reach that term, divided by the months actually paid for (termMonths + n × renewalMonths, where n is the number of whole renewals needed to reach the preferred term). Plans whose renewal price the provider does not publish are left out when a renewal would be needed. We also show the renewal price, devices, money-back period, whether the no-logs policy has been audited (and by whom), the jurisdiction and whether servers are RAM-only. Audit, jurisdiction, RAM-only, streaming and p2p are marked “unconfirmed” when they could not be verified on the provider's pages. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links to NordVPN and Surfshark (via the CJ affiliate network). Commission does not affect which plans appear or their order; the other providers are covered on the same terms.
15. US home internet (FCC data)
The home internet comparison uses the FCC Broadband Data Collection (BDC) public availability data, aggregated to 2020 census blocks. Only residential availability counts: business-only offers and offers under 1 Mbps are excluded. For an address, we list the providers reported for its census block, ranked by low latency, then download and upload speed. City figures, where published, are the share of the city's 2020 census blocks with residential broadband (at least one residential offer from any provider; most other blocks have no homes) where the provider reports residential service, FCC BDC as of the snapshot date on the page; the city's blocks come from the Census Bureau 2020 block assignment file for the incorporated place. A share of blocks is not a share of homes, and a provider reported in a block may not serve every address in it. The FCC data has no prices; speeds are maximum advertised, not measured. For major providers with national or regional list prices (AT&T Fiber, Verizon, T-Mobile Home Internet, Starlink, Google Fiber, Quantum Fiber, Brightspeed, Spectrum, Xfinity, Optimum fiber, Viasat, HughesNet) the result adds a starting price: the cheapest plan on the provider’s own plan page, with its conditions (AutoPay, bundles, hardware), the page link and the date it was checked. These are “from” prices before taxes and fees; the price at a given address can differ. A price is dropped 45 days after its last check. Providers that price by address (for example cable operators) show no price.
16. Changes
We adjust this basis when the market, our data partner's guidelines or the law change. The current version is always published at this address with the date above.
17. Contact
Questions about the comparison: contact@commerceforagents.com. Legal notices: Imprint, Privacy Policy, Terms.