“Allocation battle over the power grid”
Transmission grid operators are protesting the lowering of their equity capital return, suggested by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Hans-Jürgen Brick, CCO at grid operator Amprion, told the paper that phone cable operators were receiving more in capital returns than power network operators, even though there were new and costly investments necessary in the electricity grid in order to transport wind power from the north to the south of Germany. The BNetzA plans to lower the equity capital return on new grid investments as of 2019 because of the current low-interest phase.
The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) warned in a separate statement that reducing the equity capital return by 25 percent, as suggested by the BNetzA, would make it the lowest in the whole of Europe and could lead to delays in grid expansion.