Network usage fee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

In the liberalized energy market , the network usage fees are fees that electricity and gas network operators charge from network users for network use for network transmission .

backgrounds

Network users are usually the suppliers - especially for private customers - but larger industrial customers are increasingly using the network themselves and paying the electricity or gas network operator directly. All network operators in Germany have to publish their current network usage charges on the Internet. The regulations on the collection of network usage charges were originally regulated by association agreements and the implementation is described in the accompanying commentary volume of the Association of Network Operators (VDN). In accordance with the Energy Industry Act , the determination of network usage fees is regulated in the Electricity Network Fee Ordinance (StromNEV) and the Gas Network Fee Ordinance (GasNEV) - both of which came into force on July 29, 2005.

According to the Energy Industry Act , the network operators had to submit their network usage charges to the Federal Network Agency for approval for the first time on November 1, 2005. After submitting the application, the Federal Network Agency had six months to review. Since January 1, 2009, the network charges have also been subject to incentive regulation , which is intended to encourage operators to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Calculation bases

The grid fees are calculated by setting an upper revenue limit for the affected grid operator, which may cover the total permissible grid costs and other revenue. This upper limit is determined before the start of the regulatory period for each year of the coming regulatory period, with one regulatory period lasting 5 years. The network operator can make an individual adjustment of the revenue caps to the price development. If there are also unforeseen changes, an adjustment can be requested in order to avoid unreasonable hardship. The regulatory authority can also make adjustments based on quality criteria.

The company determines the upper revenue limit through a cost review. The data must be confirmed by an auditor. The Federal Network Agency enters the difference between the revenue cap and the actual revenue annually in a regulatory account. If the actual revenues exceed the upper limit by five percent for gas and electricity, the network charges must be adjusted immediately.

The basis of cost accounting is based on the provisions of the Electricity Network Fee Ordinance (StromNEV) and the Gas Network Fee Ordinance (GasNEV) passed in 2005 . In addition, the cost components that cannot be influenced over the long term are also included in the evaluation of the network costs. These include: legal requirements, concession fees , operating taxes, upstream network levels, certain investments, additional costs for the operation of underground cables , company and collective bargaining agreements on additional wages and utility services (if they were created by December 31, 2016 and recognized in the network fee approval procedure of the Federal Network Agency), Works council activities (in the case of the statutory reimbursement of costs by the network operator), procedural regulations for cross-border electricity trading and for access to the natural gas transmission networks.

If the supply task of a network operator changes, adjustments to the revenue caps can be requested from the regulatory authority on an annual basis. The factors here are: the area of ​​the supply area, the number of connection or exit points, annual maximum load, other parameters set by the regulatory authority .

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The efficiency comparison, which the Federal Network Agency carries out before each regulatory period, results from the total costs of network operation after deducting the cost shares that cannot be influenced. This cost volume flows into the efficiency value determination once company-specific and once standardized, for example to neutralize effects from the age structure of the network. In addition, the efficiency value is determined using two different methods (DEA & SFA). There are four efficiency values ​​(→ 2 cost bases with 2 procedures), from which the highest value for the network operator is used. This efficiency value is given in percent and must not fall below 60 percent. When comparing efficiency, various existing differences between the individual network operators are taken into account: supply task (see above), geographical, geological and topographical features, line length.

Once all the data has been determined, the upper revenue limit is converted into the network fee.

Development of network charges

Development of network usage charges from 2010 to 2016

According to the Federal Network Agency, the costs of network charges (electricity) for household customers in the basic supply in 2010 were around 6 ct / kWh and thus around 25% of the electricity price for private customers, a reduction of over 20% since 2006. By 2013, the network charges have been around 6.5 ct / kWh increased. In 2015, 24 of the 33 major network operators will increase their fees by between 10 and 19%. By 2023 (as of 2014), an increase in network usage charges to an average of 7.6 ct / kWh is forecast.

The corresponding network charges for gas have tended to rise since 2006 and were around 1.3 ct / kWh in 2010, which was around 20% of the gas price for household customers at the time. For industrial customers, the network charges are much lower.

Structure and components of the network usage charges for electricity

The decisive factor for determining the network usage charges is whether the load profile of the respective consumption point is measured or determined synthetically.

Consumption points without power measurement (standard load profile)

Up to an annual work of 100,000 kWh / a, delivery can take place via a synthetic load profile ( standard load profile , SLP).

Depending on the withdrawal behavior of the network customer, the division is made into a standard load profile according to BDEW. The network operator assigns the profiles. The operators still reserve the right to use a suitable analytical method in the future after prior notice.

For network customers in the low-voltage network without power measurement, a flat-rate wage applies.

  • Labor price in ct / kWh
  • Base price in EUR / a

Consumption points with 1/4 h power measurement (measured load profile)

To determine the network usage charges for network customers with 1/4 h power measurement ( registering power measurement , RLM), the following data is generally required:

  • the annual work in kWh
  • the highest average power value of the billing period in kW. It is used to determine the service price.
  • the network level of the network customer
  • the annual usage time, determined from the annual work divided by the maximum output.

The network usage fee then has the following components:

  • Power price in EUR / kW (annual maximum power)
  • Labor price in ct / kWh
  • Base price in EUR / a
  • if necessary, a remuneration for reactive work in Ct / k varh (usually from 50% of the actual work drawn per accounting period)

Avoided network usage charges

For the decentralized feed-in of electrical energy, which takes place close to the consumption in the low-voltage or medium-voltage network, it was assumed that the network operator incurs lower costs than with feed-in from large power plants. This was based on the assumption that the energy fed in decentrally does not have to be fed into high-voltage lines from large power plants and transformed from there into medium-voltage and low-voltage networks until the end customer purchases the electricity. Charges for avoided network use were introduced for the first time in 1999 in Association Agreement II and were later adopted in Section 18 of the Electricity Network Charges Ordinance (StromNEV). For EEG systems, the avoided network charges are not paid out, but are paid into the EEG account by the network operator; they are compensated with the EEG remuneration.

In the meantime, it has been shown that decentralized feed-in - especially with feed-in from volatile energy sources such as sun and wind - does not save any network expansion, but makes a network expansion necessary for connection in areas with low loads. In addition, false incentives are set to establish a grid connection at the lowest possible voltage level and in areas with the highest possible grid charges. With the Network Charges Modernization Act and an amendment agreed by the Committee for Economic Affairs and Energy, the level of the network charges avoided will be frozen from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2016. For systems with volatile generation, the network charges avoided will be gradually abolished by December 31, 2019 and may no longer be paid from January 1, 2020. They are retained for other existing decentralized generation plants or those newly built by December 31, 2022. In response to a statement by the Federal Council, the Federal Government promised an examination or evaluation on some points.

In the Network Fee Modernization Act (NEMoG) of July 22, 2017, these changes were implemented with the amendment of the StromNEV and the EnWG. Avoided network fees are only paid to decentralized generation systems that were commissioned before January 1, 2023 or, for systems with volatile feed-in, if they were commissioned before January 1, 2018. Systems in which the power feed

  1. is funded according to § 19 of the Renewable Energy Sources Act
  2. is remunerated in accordance with Section 6, Paragraph 4, Clause 1 of the Combined Heat and Power Act and Section 13, Paragraph 5 and this remuneration includes avoided network charges or
  3. is funded from CHP plants in accordance with Section 8a (1) of the Combined Heat and Power Act.

do not receive any avoided network charges. From January 1, 2020, fees for decentralized feed-in may no longer be paid for systems with volatile generation. Until then, they will be gradually reduced.

Uniform federal transmission network charge

In principle, the network costs are allocated to the electricity customers in the network area of ​​a network operator and distributed according to consumption. In the area of ​​the transmission grids, this leads to a disadvantage in the north and east of Germany, since the grids there had to be expanded for the high level of renewable feed-in, especially from wind power, but there is now permanently more renewable electricity fed in than can be consumed and this electricity in the Is transported south and west. In evaluating studies, the scientific service of the German Bundestag came to the conclusion that nationwide transmission network charges can counteract an increase in load that is not appropriate to the cause in regions with high network expansion. One effect occurs in particular with customers at high voltage levels. At lower voltage levels, the reduction or increase in network charges is overlaid by the regional network charges that still exist. In the household sector in particular, forecast increases in wages will be higher than the effect of the compensation mechanisms. The report does not yet include the costs for so-called "special network equipment", which are being built as network stabilization systems exclusively in the south to compensate for the nuclear power plants to be shut down from 2022 until the HVDC lines Südostlink and Südlink are put into operation. These costs are also allocated nationwide and counteract the relief effect of the nationwide transmission network charges.

The NEMoG contains the power to issue ordinances for the BMWi to make regulations to standardize transmission network charges. On April 25, 2018, the Federal Cabinet passed an ordinance according to which the standardization should take place in five steps, so that the network charges concerned will be nationwide from January 1, 2023. In the 2019 calendar year, a nationwide share of the transmission network charges will be determined for 20 percent of the revenue caps that are relevant for the formation of charges. In the following years this share of the revenue caps increases by 20 percent. From the calendar year 2023 onwards, the transmission network charges will be completely standardized across the country.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Electricity Report: Development of network charges
  2. ↑ Brochure Market Competition Energy Key Figures 2010. (pdf) Network charges for electricity (p. 24). BnetzA, accessed on November 1, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Development of network charges since 2010 / List of network charges 2015 by network operator  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / 1-stromvergleich.de  
  4. ↑ Estimation of the development of network usage charges in Germany. (pdf) Estimation of the network usage charges and their composition (p. 33). TU Dresden, accessed on March 5, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Brochure Market Competition Energy Key Figures 2010. (pdf) Gas network charges (p. 55). (No longer available online.) BnetzA, formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 1, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesnetzagentur.de  
  6. ↑ Bernd Petermann: Fee for decentralized feed-in according to § 18 StromNEV - an obsolete model . In: EWeRK 3/2016, pdf, 435 kB
  7. ↑ a b Bundestag printed paper 18/11528 Draft of a law to modernize the network tariff structure (Netzentgeltmodernisierungsgesetz), pdf 364 kB
  8. ↑ Bundestag printed paper 18/12999 resolution recommendation and report of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Energy on the Network Fee Modernization Act , pdf, 1.14 MB
  9. ↑ a b [ BGBl. 2017 I p. 2503 ] Act on the Modernization of the Network Fee Structure (NEMoG)
  10. ↑ Scientific services of the German Bundestag: Regional effects of a standardization of network charges for transmission networks , pdf, 2.84 MB
  11. ↑ Press release of the BMWi from April 25, 2018 on nationwide transmission network charges
  12. ^ Ordinance on the step-by-step introduction of uniform nationwide transmission network charges , pdf, 108 kB

Web links