Will this 136 million euro grid revenue lower your power bills?
Yes, but only under specific conditions. Transmission system operators are legally required to prioritize spending this €136 million revenue on maintaining grid capacity or investing in physical network upgrades . However, if the funds cannot be efficiently used for those grid improvements, they can be utilized—subject to approval by regulatory authorities—to reduce the network tariffs that make up a portion of your overall electricity bill . For this reporting period, German grid operators indicated that they would use these revenues both for grid investments and to help lower these network fees .
How is this massive bottleneck income used to keep electricity reliable?
This bottleneck income is used to keep electricity reliable by funding grid reinforcements and network investments. Transmission system operators are legally required to prioritize these funds to maintain or increase interconnection capacities at national borders. Additionally, the revenues are used to guarantee the actual availability of the allocated transmission capacity. By upgrading physical power lines and resolving grid bottlenecks, these investments ensure that electricity can flow safely and continuously between Germany and its neighbors without overloading the system.
Which neighboring countries pay the most for Germany’s grid congestion?
During the July 2015 to June 2016 reporting period, the Netherlands generated the highest amount of congestion management revenue for German transmission system operators, totaling 38,627,821.6 € . Switzerland yielded the second-highest revenue at 29,191,153.3 € , followed closely by France at 26,847,283.5 € and Denmark at 24,303,754.3 € . In contrast, the borders with the Czech Republic (3,345,411.6 €) and Poland (356,745.3 €) contributed the least to Germany’s overall congestion income .
Does flow-based market coupling change how we price cross-border power?
Yes. While traditional explicit auctions sell grid capacity beforehand and separate it from actual electricity trade , implicit auctioning processes allocate both the electricity and the cross-border capacity jointly . The introduction of Flow-Based Market Coupling in Central Western Europe on May 21, 2015, specifically changed the system by establishing a new principle for how day-ahead congestion rents and related expenditures are divided among transmission system operators .
Why do some borders make millions while others yield almost nothing?
The report does not explain the underlying reasons for the vast differences in revenue among Germany’s borders. It only documents the final congestion income figures and notes the different methods used to allocate grid capacity—such as the day-ahead implicit flow-based market coupling utilized on highly active Western and Northern borders (like the Netherlands, France, and Denmark) versus explicit daily, monthly, and annual auctions used on others (like Poland and the Czech Republic). The specific market conditions, physical grid bottlenecks, and price differences between countries that drive these financial disparities are not analyzed in this document.
Who legally decides how grid operators spend their bottleneck revenues?
The regulatory authorities—which in Germany is the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur)—legally decide and verify how transmission system operators spend their bottleneck revenues.
Under European regulations, these regulatory authorities are responsible for verifying on an annual basis that grid operators comply with the law and dedicate the funds strictly to prescribed purposes, such as upgrading network infrastructure, maintaining grid reliability, or guaranteeing capacity availability. Furthermore, if grid operators wish to use these revenues as income to reduce network tariffs for consumers, they can only do so up to a maximum limit decided and approved by these regulatory authorities.
Source institutions：Bundesnetzagentur
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