Electricity bill simply explained

The most important thing first - from all listed price types on your invoice you can negotiate exactly one position. The rest is made up of levies, charges and taxes set by the state, local authorities and the energy supplier, which now account for around 75% of our electricity price. These items can only be controlled via consumption. Below you will find an overview of the various price components of your electricity bill in Germany.

Variable price components of the electricity bill:

Only the energy price that you pay to your energy supplier varies from supplier to supplier and is of interest for the management of your electricity costs. It is stated in cents per kilowatt hour and includes the energy supplier's expense costs.

Fixed price components of the electricity bill:

The electricity tax is a consumption tax regulated by federal law that is levied on electric power. The tax rate is 2.05 cents/kWh.

The EEG levy is 6.50 cents/kWh. EEG stands for Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz (Renewable Energy Act). The law guarantees producers of green electricity a fixed amount for feeding their electricity into the grid. The situation is similar with the KWKG levy. This amounts to 0.25 cents/kWh and is passed on to the operators of combined heat and power plants (CHP plants).

Other consumption-related fixed costs include the $19 StromNEV levy (0.43 cents/kWh), the offshore levy according to $ 17f EnWG (0.39 cents/kWh) and the $ 18 AbLaV levy for switchable loads (0.009 cents/kWh). The concession fee is paid to the municipality and is used to allow energy supply companies to use public transport routes to lay and operate lines. These charges are also billed depending on consumption (kWh).

Grid fees are charges levied by electricity grid operators for the use of their electricity grids. They are billed to the consumer by the energy supplier, depending on consumption (today usually 6.5 cents/kWh), and then transmitted to the grid operator.

Conclusion: consumption is crucial

Low power consumption means low costs. The pure energy price often appears to be low, but only accounts for a quarter of the electricity bill. Lighting, for example, accounts for an average of 15% of a company's electricity costs.
Thus, a switch to LED can reduce these costs by around 80%. After replacing 1,000 LED tubes that light up for 8,700 hours a year at an electricity price of 17 cents/kWh, an industrial company saves around EUR 340,000 in four years compared to conventional fluorescent tubes.  And makes a valuable contribution to a better environment.