German government supports new requirements for smart meter ramp-up

The government and industry are to refocus the introduction of smart meter gateways (SMGWs). This is provided for in a draft bill to amend the Energy Industry Act, which the German government launched on Wednesday. At the heart of the plan are amendments to the Metering Point Operation Act. Accordingly, the current pure smart meter rollout is to be further developed into a "smart grid rollout". At the heart of this is the integration of the controllability of "energy transition systems", i.e. smaller generation systems and controllable consumption devices. In concrete terms, this means that heat pumps, private wall boxes for electric cars, air conditioning units and larger battery storage units should make better use of the existing option to temporarily reduce the power supply in the event of imminent grid overload.

"With the encouragingly increasing share of renewable energies in electricity generation, load flexibility and the controllability of generation plants at peak times are increasingly becoming a decisive factor for system security," is how the government justifies this approach in the draft available online at heise. The digitalization of the energy transition is – indispensable for economically and operationally resilient system operation, especially in times of temporary generation surpluses –. For this reason, all metering points with generation plants with an installed capacity of over 2 kilowatts will have to be equipped with SMGWs in future. At the same time, the ability to be controlled by the responsible metering point operator will become mandatory.

Smart electricity meters to become more economical

The quota of metering points to be equipped by law is to remain unchanged overall. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the new requirements will only apply to small systems if it becomes apparent that the statutory targets will not be met. Accordingly, at least 50 percent of all measuring points to be equipped should have an SMGW by 2030. The advantage of this approach is that operators of smaller photovoltaic systems, for example, would be exempt from the technically demanding obligation to install the appropriate control technology themselves. There would also be an exception if balcony power plants and the like are guaranteed not to feed electricity into the grid on a permanent basis and are only used for self-supply or internal distribution of electricity.

A draft bill from the Ministry of Economic Affairs had initially envisaged that interfaces for smart electricity meters would no longer be mandatory for end consumers with an annual electricity consumption of up to 10,000 kWh. This would have meant that such households would have had to be equipped by the metering point operator "only as optional installations". Associations such as the ZVEI and providers of flexible tariffs criticized this and feared "massive uncertainty in the industry". In principle, however, the government maintains that the installation and operation of smart meters should become "more economically justifiable", i.e. in some cases more expensive for connection users. Large consumers could incur costs of up to 140 euros per year. For optional installations (up to 6000 kWh), the price cap should be a maximum of 60 euros per year – 30 euros for the end consumer and the same amount for the grid operator.

CDU wants to ignite the smart meter turbo

With additional amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the executive wants to ensure that generation plants are integrated faster and better into the electricity markets. Operators are to be allowed to market their electricity themselves. At the same time, smaller plants could also be seen by the grid operators in future and controlled "if necessary", it is said. During implementation, grid and metering point operators would be given leeway to "include small systems as a lower priority" if necessary. Existing transmission grids are also to be utilized to a greater extent, while distribution grids are to be more digitalized, standardized and accelerated. At the same time, the government has approved a real-world laboratory law. This is intended to make it easier to test autonomous vehicles, new mobility concepts, unmanned aviation applications, modern neighborhood solutions and telemedicine in a "regulatory sandbox".

Now that the traffic light coalition has ended, it is unclear whether the initiative will pass the Bundestag before the new elections, which have been announced for February 23, 2025. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group only wants to support projects of the rump traffic light without the FDP in individual cases. In a current paper for an energy agenda, it calls for "the smart meter turbo" to be ignited. A faster and more comprehensive introduction of smart metering systems is crucial.

(olb)