TIMELINE: Competition in German retail energy

(Reuters) - More German households have switched electricity and gas suppliers under a European Union rule, dating from July 1, 2007, which gives consumers a choice of supplier.

This continues the process of market liberalization, begun in 1998, in Europe's leading economy.

Following is a chronology of energy customer switches and trends such as ONE toward renewable power reported by incumbent utilities and newcomers to the market of 40 million households.

Germany lacks the dynamism of Britain, where switching between energy suppliers is common, but is more liberalized than in some other continental European countries, notably France.

Power market leaders are E.ON, RWE, Vattenfall Europe and EnBW, which control 80 percent of domestic power generation. E.ON's import arm Ruhrgas controls well over half the German gas market.

But there are now hundreds of small local distributors and internet vendors with differing ownership structures in the public and private sector.

Latest entries are marked ***

Oct - Gas industry association BDEW*** says German suppliers may be able to cut prices next year if oil prices continue to fall, due to a mechanism that links gas to oil with a time lag.

This is the first cautious signal of a turn in price direction after hundreds of suppliers raised prices in the wake of an oil rally this year.

Oct - Renewable power supplier Entega*** says it has ambitions to become national sector leader in 2009 after building up a 440,000 customer base in the Hesse and Rhineland Palatinate states. It says instead of 2 million households subscribing to green power now, the figure could rise to 12 million by 2015. Entega aims to beat current eco-power leader Lichtblick, which it says has 410,000 customers.

Oct - E.ON's local gas companies agree to put off price hikes by two months and pay households a 35 euros bonus to settle a cartel office*** case against the units over alleged overpricing. The cartel office is still looking into gas pricing methods at units of E.ON's three other big utility rivals. E.ON through the move is forced to stop over relying on procurement prices as an explanation for its charges to customers.

Oct - Pricing portal Toptarif***, which offers comparisons and encourages switching, monitored gas providers and says energy price inflation is continuing. Some 75 companies will raise prices in November and December, by up to 23 percent. This follows big hikes in September and October.

Oct - Munich heating oil retailer Montana*** challenges E.ON's Bavaria unit on its home turf by expanding its business to gas. E.ON plans a14 percent price rise in Bavaria as of December and Montana says it can give consumers the chance to save an average 157 euros a year for each account.

Oct - Dutch utility Nuon's*** German subsidiary expands power offers in Bavaria and gas offers in North-Rhine Westphalia. It works with 12-month price guarantees and in the summer moved into eastern German cities.

Oct - Independent market entrant FlexStrom** says after five years of operations in retail power and gas it has turned itself into a joint stock company, although not publicly listed, having started out as a family-owned company. It says strong business growth over the past 18 months has led to this move.

Oct - E.ON's retail brand E WIE EINFACH has 850,000 customers, more than 300,000 of whom are buying gas and the rest power. As of October, it had to withdraw one of its two gas products which had promised to stay at 2 cents per cbm below local providers across the nation, a spokesman said. A new offer in its place, which would reflect changed customer requirements and the market environment would soon be detailed, he added.

Oct - Yello, a unit of EnBW, says it will introduce intelligent power meters to selected customers later in the year to encourage energy savings and tie customers to the brand. Managing director Peter Vest told Reuters he believes total German household energy account switches in 2008 may total 2 million after 1.35 million in 2007. Advertising spending could run to 300 million euros for the entire industry, which would be treble the 2006 spending, he said, citing advertising research.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Sue Thomas)