Electric car: Variable grid charges for lower charging costs
Variable grid charges reduce charging costs for e-car operators. Grid-supported charging reduces the operating times of fossil fuel peak-load power plants.
Electric car drivers with their own charging station have a new way to use electricity at low cost.
(Image: Martin Franz)
From today, April 1, 2025, households will be able to use time-variable grid charges. With an electric car and a wallbox, electricity prices can now fall further if customers use a corresponding contract. Previously, this was only possible with a dynamic electricity price but a constant grid fee.
According to the Federal Network Agency's decision BK9-22/010-A of 23 November 2023, grid fees may now be billed flexibly, with different prices depending on grid utilization or electricity supply. This is intended to make the use of a high electricity supply even more attractive for customers. Until now, grid fees have been a fixed component, accounting for around 22 to 28 percent of the electricity price. This remained unchanged even for customers with a dynamic electricity price.
Grid-friendly charging
The flexible grid fees are intended to increase the incentive to charge electric cars or operate heat pumps when there is excess electricity in the grid. This is intended to regulate the increasingly fluctuating amount of electricity due to the rapidly growing development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Grid-supportive charging can thus reduce the operating times of fossil-fuelled peak-load power plants; ideally, more of these supplementary power plants, most of which run on fossil gas, can be shut down to stabilize the grid.
According to Section 14a of the Energy Industry Act, grid operators can already take measures to ensure grid stability. For example, smart meters with smart meter gateways can be used to throttle consumers such as wall boxes or heat pumps to 4.2 kW for a maximum of two hours a day if the households are equipped with them. In return, these electricity customers receive a flat-rate discount on the electricity price of between EUR 110 and 190 per year, depending on the grid area, or a pro rata reduction of 60 percent. The website of the Federal Network Agency provides an introduction to the subject.
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Only with a flat-rate discount, smart meter and control unit
Households that take advantage of the flat-rate discount are eligible for the time-variable grid charges with immediate effect. The prerequisites are at least one controllable consumption device such as a heat pump, an electric car or a battery storage unit with a rated output of at least 4.2 kW. In addition, a networked smart meter for recording electricity consumption in real time and a control unit as an intervention option for the grid operator.
The implementation of this part of the Energy Industry Act is now possible because enough households are equipped with smart meters. The level of digitization of the German electricity grid is far behind that of many other European countries. According to the plan, at least 50 percent of metering points are now to be equipped with a smart metering system by the end of 2028 and at least 95 percent by the end of 2030.
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The next step
The next logical step can be expected to be the promotion of bidirectional charging. Grid operators will then also be able to tap into connected e-cars for short-term grid stabilization and allow e-car owners to share in the costs saved by exempting them from grid charges. The Federal Ministry of Economics already has plans to this effect in its drawers. However, a timetable for this is not yet known.
(fpi)