Individual grid fee.
The grid fee plays a significant role in the electricity costs paid by households and companies. But what does “individual grid fee” mean for companies and what advantages does it bring?
The article is also available to download as a PDF. (German version)
The individual grid charge is a special form of billing for the use of the electricity grid. Normally, grid charges are calculated as a flat rate based on consumption and connection capacity. With individual grid charges, however, the specific usage profiles of an electricity consumer are taken into account, which is particularly important for large consumers such as industrial companies.
In this newsletter, we look at reducing the grid fee for end consumers who use the electricity grid particularly intensively. The advantage: Significant reduction in energy costs.
Who can apply for an individual grid fee?
This form of grid fee is of interest to large consumers who can structure their electricity use as evenly as possible. The requirements and details of the application are regulated in the Grid Charges Ordinance (Strom-NEV). For the individual grid fee, companies must have a consumption of at least 10 GWh at a consumption point and a number of hours of use of > 7,000 h in a calendar year.
How is the individual grid fee calculated?
The calculation of the individual grid fee is based on the company’s actual load profile. If the company has purchased at least 10 GWh and has reached a number of usage hours of over 7,000 hours, the regular grid fee is reduced to 20%. If the number of hours of use exceeds 7,500 hours, the grid fee is reduced to 15 %, and if it exceeds 8,000 hours, it is reduced to 10 %.
Incidentally, the hours of use are calculated by dividing the annual work by the highest peak output of the year.
Example:
What happens if I do not reach the 7,000 hours of use?
If the number of hours of use as described in the previous example cannot be achieved, it is possible to reduce the peak output (in the denominator of the fraction) by optimizing the energy. In our example, the peak power would have to be reduced to less than 1,485 kW.
Example:
Energy optimization is also used if the company only just reaches the 7,000 hours of use. By reducing the power peaks, energy optimization creates a safety buffer.
Conclusion
The individual grid fee offers companies that have the most consistent and continuous energy consumption possible a simple way to significantly reduce their energy costs. Although the application process and calculation may seem complex, the effort is worthwhile for many large consumers. We recommend that interested companies obtain detailed information about the requirements and options and, if necessary, consult experts.
If you have any further questions or need advice, our energy experts will be happy to help.
Yours, Christian Wiedemann
Head of Product Management
KBR GmbH
