Retail power and natural gas customers in Germany face rising energy bills after a higher regional court Wednesday ruled that the calculation methods used by the national regulator for power and gas grids are flawed.
Retail power and natural gas customers in
Germany
face
rising energy bills after a higher regional court Wednesday ruled that the
calculation methods used by the national regulator for power and gas grids are
flawed.
In a written statement, the Duesseldorf-based court said the federal network
regulator--the Bundesnetzagentur--has calculated the costs for running and
maintaining power and gas grids to the disadvantage of the operators.
For instance, productivity improvement targets have been set too high, it
added.
The prospect of rising energy bills due to potentially illegal regulation
practices comes as market observers already expect considerable increases in
energy prices over the next few years.
Germany
has
pledged to exit all nuclear energy generation by 2022 and needs to massively
expand power grids to ensure rapidly rising volumes of renewables electricity
can be shipped to customers.
Depending on the circumstances of the individual operator, the court's decision
could result in higher grid access fees in the range of several million euros,
the court said. Around 300 German energy utilities across the country had
challenged the regulators practices in court.
Grid access fees are the prices operators of power lines and gas pipelines
charge other energy suppliers that don't own distribution or transmission
infrastructure.
These network charges account for around 25% of retail power prices, so any
increase in grid proceeds for the operating companies would result in higher
energy bills for customers.
The regulator can appeal the decision but the Bundesnetzagentur declined to
comment on the ruling Wednesday, adding that it needs to examine the court's
reasoning first.
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