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Expert opinion on the development of the network fee system for electricity
New Project in Cooperation with Consentec GmbH
The Institute of German and International Mining and Energy Law, together with Consentec GmbH, Aachen, successfully participated in the Federal Network Agency's (BNetzA) tender for an expert opinion on the "Further development of the general network fee system" in the electricity sector.
The task of the report is to provide scientific support for the redesign of the general network fee system in a planned determination by the BNetzA („AgNes“-determination). The study examines from an economic and legal perspective which grid users have to bear which shares of the costs of the electricity grid. The background to the planned AgNes determination is a ruling by the European Court of Justice from September 2021 (Case C-718/18), which classified the previous German energy regulation by way of normative acts (laws and ordinances) as incompatible with EU law. Instead, European law essentially assigns the exclusive responsibility for designing the network fee system to the national regulatory authority.
The Institute of German and International Mining and Energy Law is investigating from a legal perspective the extent to which European regulations restrict the BNetzA's scope of action when redesigning the network fee system and the extent to which German normative acts may influence the design despite the BNetzA's exclusive responsibility. Subject to examination is for example the extent to which electricity network fees can be designed to be time and location-dependent, the extent to which nationwide uniform distribution network fees are possible or whether network fees for feeding electricity into the electricity grid could be incurred in the future.
The BNetzA has published a discussion paper on the planned AgNes determination and discussed it with stakeholders in an initial workshop at the beginning of June 2025. Further information on the BNetzA's procedure can be found here.
