Legally binding electronic communication
The use of e-mail in daily business life is becoming increasingly commonplace. Communication is particularly time-saving for both the sender and the recipient. It has been possible to contact Stadtwerke Kevelaer electronically for years. All organizational units and employees of Stadtwerke Kevelaer can be reached directly via e-mail.
From now on, legally binding e-mails can also be sent to Stadtwerke Kevelaer via the central e-mail address vps@stadtwerke-kevelaer.de. Legally binding is when the written form with a handwritten signature is required by law.
The handwritten signature can be replaced in the electronic procedure by a qualified electronic signature that meets the requirements of Section 2 (1) no. 2 of the German Digital Signature Act(SigG).
The electronic form received by Stadtwerke Kevelaer has the same legal effect as the signed paper form.
Please note that Stadtwerke Kevelaer can only verify qualified electronic signatures from the certificate service providers (trust centers) named in the general conditions for electronic communication. If you use other signatures, these do not replace the written form in electronic communication with Stadtwerke Kevelaer.
Furthermore, messages to the administration can be sent in encrypted form in future to ensure confidentiality. This prevents emails with sensitive content from being read or manipulated by unauthorized persons. In order to implement the technical innovations, Stadtwerke Kevelaer has set up a virtual mailroom, or VPS for short.
Framework conditions for electronic communication in administrative procedures
According to the provisions of administrative law(Section 3a of the Administrative Procedure Act for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia - VwVfG NRW), legally binding electronic communication is possible in administrative proceedings, provided that the recipient has opened access for this purpose. § Section 126a of the German Civil Code applies accordingly in private law.
Electronic access (the transmission of electronic documents) to Stadtwerke Kevelaer for legally binding electronic communication between citizens, legal entities under private and public law and Stadtwerke within the meaning of Section 3 a VwVfG NRW is open.
Legally binding notifications and documents can be sent electronically to Stadtwerke Kevelaer via the Stadtwerke Kevelaer virtual mailroom(VPS). The handwritten signature required for many official procedures is replaced by the qualified electronic signature.
The total size of emails that can be received is limited to 35 MB. Larger e-mails are automatically rejected.
To ensure the confidentiality of your messages, you can send encrypted messages to us. The following encryption methods are supported by Stadtwerke Kevelaer.
- S/MIME
For the encryption you need our so-called public key. This can be downloaded from the download area of this page.
Stadtwerke Kevelaer can currently verify the authenticity and validity of signatures from the following certification service providers (trust centers):
- S-Trust
- DATEV eG
- D-Trust
- TeleSec
- TC TrustCenter
If you use signatures other than those mentioned above, this does not replace the written form! A written note will follow!
If you are not yet able to use electronic communication technology, please use paper-based communication.
If different or additional options are opened up in the course of implementing e-government applications, you will be informed here or in an appropriate manner.
If you send e-mails with file attachments to Stadtwerke Kevelaer, please note that the administration cannot support all common file formats and applications on the market.
The following file formats can be edited:
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Text files in ASC II format (.txt)
Microsoft Word (.doc,.docx)
Microsoft Excel (.xls,.xlsx)
Exchange of simply structured data (.csv)
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt, .pps)
Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg or .jpeg)
Image files in Tagged Image File Format (.tif)
Drawing files (.dwg,.dxf)
General information on electronic communication:
The total size of incoming e-mails is limited to 20 megabytes(MB). Larger e-mails are automatically rejected
Please note that when sending an e-mail to Stadtwerke Kevelaer, unauthorized access or falsification during transmission cannot be ruled out.
If an e-mail cannot be processed, you will be informed of this by the recipient. This case can be triggered, for example, by computer viruses, general technical problems or deviations from the above technical conditions.
This information only applies to communication with Stadtwerke Kevelaer and does not apply to references to third-party offers, e.g. other authorities.
Encryption
To ensure the confidentiality of your messages, you can send them to Stadtwerke Kevelaer in encrypted form.
The public key of Stadtwerke Kevelaer is available for download:
If you use file formats that differ from the above, your mail cannot be processed.
If your e-mail cannot be processed, you will be informed as soon as possible. This can be caused, for example, by computer viruses, general technical problems or deviations from the above technical conditions.
The aforementioned information applies only to communication with Stadtwerke Kevelaer and does not apply to references to offers from third parties, such as other authorities or institutions.