Status: 10/05/2022 7:55 p.m
For most electricity customers, network charges – a part of the electricity price – will increase in the coming year. In order to reduce the costs for consumers and the economy, the federal government is contributing 13 billion euros.
Network charges are likely to rise for many electricity customers in the coming year. The four major transmission system operators announced an expected price of 3.12 cents per kilowatt hour, which should apply nationwide for the first time.
Network charges are part of the electricity price that consumers pay. This consists of the price for the electricity itself, but also fees for using the large national transmission grids, the local distribution grids and other items.
Anyone who lives in the area of the network operator Tennet, which supplies Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and parts of Hesse and Bavaria, for example, can expect a slight reduction in the network fee. 3.29 cents per kWh are still due there.
In the rest of the country, however, network charges are currently between 2.94 and 3.04 cents per kWh, so they will increase. The four transmission system operators – 50Hertz, Amprion, Transnet BW and Tennet – justify the price increases with foreseeable higher costs.
Increase in costs should be absorbed
As the Reuters news agency reports, the costs for the transmission networks have more than tripled from five billion to 18 billion euros. To ensure that the network charges for customers do not also more than triple as a result, the federal government promised to support the charges with 13 billion euros. In this way, the fees would be stabilized at around the current level.
“We are now making sure that these cost increases are absorbed and thus prevent an additional burden for industrial companies, medium-sized companies and consumers. We will use almost 13 billion euros to reduce costs. This is happening in connection with the electricity price brake and the defense shield. For interim financing, we access the surplus on the EEG account,” explained Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
In the medium term, the federal government also wants to curb grid fees by skimming off high random profits from electricity producers. The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) called on the coalition to quickly create the legal basis for grants. “It is correct that a state subsidy is planned for this extraordinary situation,” said Kerstin Andreae from the BDEW. The significantly higher costs would otherwise lead to significantly higher network charges that customers would have to pay.
Distribution network fees are also likely to increase
In the coming week, the new prices for using the local distribution grids are also to be published. In industry circles it was said that price increases are also to be expected here. Private customers could be hit with around four cents per kWh if the federal government does not step in with subsidies here as well.