Bun­desnet­za­gen­tur pub­lish­es planned postage price cap

Year of issue 2026
Date of issue 2026.10.12

The Bundesnetzagentur has today published its intended decision in the “price-cap procedure” for Deutsche Post AG’s postage charges from 2027.

“The main reason for the increase in postage charges is the strong decline in letter volumes”, said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur . “When costs are divided among fewer letters, partly due to the increasing digitalisation, prices go up. At the same time, the Bundesnetzagentur has kept below the adjustments called for by Deutsche Post AG and has not taken account of various items claimed by it.”

Breakdown of the scope calculated for the rate increases

In the price-cap procedure, the Bundesnetzagentur determines the scope for adjustments to Deutsche Post AG’s postage rates. The scope for rate increases results from an overall increase in prices (inflation rate) and growth in productivity. An appropriate profit mark-up is taken into account.

An overall inflation rate of currently 4.04% is assumed for the period of validity of two years. Productivity is deteriorating as a result of falling volumes and burdens that can no longer be offset by efficiency gains. It amounts to minus 16.31% for personal customer letters and for business mail and minus 6.68% for personal customer parcels.

For each sector (or “basket”) the following average rate increases are possible:

• personal customer letter: 20.35% (2024: 10.48%)
• business mail (access services and orders for the formal delivery of documents): 20.35% (2024: 10.48%)
• personal customer parcels: 10.72% (2024: 7.21%)

In the price-cap procedure, Deutsche Post AG had asked for greater scope for adjustments in light of the fact that value-chain and common costs were rising while letter volumes were falling.

It is Deutsche Post AG’s business decision how to use the leeway in setting prices for the specific products in each of the three baskets. It is possible to increase the prices of certain products more and others less. The new postage rates will be approved in a subsequent rate procedure.

The new postage rates are to apply for a period of two years from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028.

Taking account of lower letter volumes

The main reason for increasing the scope for rate increases is the significant drop in volumes of letters delivered.  There are fewer letters both because of the ongoing digital transformation – with businesses, authorities and consumers increasingly communicating via digital channels – and because of the requirement for companies to send invoices in electronic format from 2028 onwards. Declining delivery volumes lead to rising unit costs.

Taking account of “burdens”

Having nationwide service obligations and being the legal succession to Deutsche Bundespost places certain burdens on Deutsche Post AG. The burdens are excess costs, which are “additional costs” the competitors do not have. Under certain conditions Deutsche Post AG may distribute such costs among the various product groups.

The Bundesnetzagentur did not accept the full extent of the additional costs claimed by Deutsche Post AG for value-chain and common costs but it did accept all the personnel, social and pension costs that Deutsche Post AG has to bear as successor to Deutsche Bundespost.

Taking account of inflation

The inflation rate in the decision serves to reflect future personnel and material cost trends. For the approval period 2027-2028 the inflation rate is determined using data for the years 2026 and 2027. It is based on the published forecasts of various research institutes.

Next steps

Deutsche Post AG, competitors, consumer protection organisations and other stakeholders are invited to comment on the planned decision by 30 October 2026. The final decision is expected to be published in November.

Once the final price-cap decision has been announced, Deutsche Post AG can request approval from the Bundesnetzagentur for the prices for the individual products, such as standard letters or postcards. The prices will be approved if they are within the limits allowed by the price-cap decision.

The draft decision is available (in German) for download on the Bundesnetzagentur website at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/1118228.

On the basis of the new Postal Act (PostG), the Bundesnetzagentur has analysed the market and competition conditions for the letter market and the personal customer parcel market for the first time. Its conclusion is that the two markets require regulation and Deutsche Post AG is dominant on both of them, meeting the prerequisite for regulation. The results are available (in German) at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/1105970.