Regional grid fees increase 10 percent on average

The average German household (consumption of 3,500 kilowatt hours/year) will have to pay 23 euros more (10 percent) in 2017 for grid fees with their electricity bill, according to an analysis by renewable energy provider LichtBlick. “The grid fees for consumers increase significantly more than the renewables surcharge,” LichtBlick says in a press release. The high fees could not only be explained with ongoing grid expansion and the Energiewende. “Power lines are the cash-cow for companies and the utilities,” said Gero Lücking, managing director at LichtBlick. The provider analysed the fees of 25 large regional grid operators and found that households in Bavaria, northern Germany, the Rhine-Main area, and eastern Germany would see the highest increases.

Read the press release in German here.

For background on the renewables surcharge read the CLEW article Germany debates form of renewables support as levy rises.