A number that looks small

At the turn of the year, German electricity grid fees will rise by an average of 1.9 percent nationwide. For a three-person household using 4,000 kilowatt-hours, that works out at roughly 8 euros gross a year — a figure most people skim past.

The context behind it is bigger: grid fees account for about a quarter of the electricity price. A quarter of the bill that sits not on the meter but in the line — and that moves very differently from region to region. The calculations come from the comparison portal Verivox, based on data published so far by the distribution network operators (dpa-AFX, 17 October 2026).

Why the average misleads

The federal government subsidises transmission grid costs. In 2027 that subsidy will be cut by almost one billion euros to 5.525 billion euros — the difference ends up in the grid fees. That is why a figure calculated uniformly nationwide arrives so unevenly in practice.

For 2027, Verivox expects a split: in the western federal states, electricity grid fees for the sample household rise by an average of 10 euros; in the eastern federal states they fall by an average of 3 euros. Hamburg sees the steepest increase. Since 2025, regions that generate particularly large amounts of wind and solar power have been relieved — grid costs are increasingly following proximity to generation.

For a rental business, that is the real point: the price of electricity is no longer a single nationwide value, it is a question of location. Two branches of the same company can face different grid fees without anything changing in their consumption.

What it means for the yard and for the site

Two things need to be kept apart — and in most calculations they are not:

  • Power at the yard: charging, workshop, test bay, lighting. Here grid fees apply directly and in full.
  • Power on site: either via a temporary grid connection (then grid fees again, plus connection costs) or via an on-site supply of your own (then no grid fee, but fuel, maintenance and logistics).

Both routes have their justification. What this round changes is not the magnitude but the spread: anyone who has been calculating with an average price per kilowatt-hour will, from 2027, be too optimistic at some locations and too pessimistic at others.

Three checks that cost nothing

1. Break down your own bill, don't quote the press release. The grid fee is one line among several; how much it means in your case is on your own statement and nowhere else. The 1.9 percent is a national average across households, not a commercial tariff.

2. Record kilowatt-hours per location, not just per company. As long as only the total is known, a regional shift cannot be seen — and therefore cannot be countered.

3. Keep separate in your pricing what is billed separately. Equipment hire and power supply are two items with two risk profiles. Anyone who folds them into a single day rate only discovers at year-end that one of the two has moved.

The honest frame

1.9 percent is not an electricity price explosion. Anyone who turns that number into drama is selling something other than information. The point is a different one: grid fees are the part of the electricity price that shifts without any action of your own — and in 2027 it shifts in opposite directions depending on region. For businesses with several locations, that is a calculation error that creeps in rather than one that stands out.

*Note: The figures quoted relate to private households and come from the cited dpa-AFX report of 17 October 2026; they are preliminary and may change once final determinations are made. Commercial tariffs are structured differently and must be checked individually.*