How much money did the electricity grid bottlenecks generate in 2019?
In 2019, the electricity grid bottlenecks generated a total aggregated cross-border congestion income of 212,670,887 Euros for the transmission system operators .
Who received the millions of euros collected from these grid bottlenecks?
The millions of euros collected from these grid bottlenecks were received by the national transmission system operators (TSOs) . On the German side, these revenues were allocated to four specific companies: Amprion, TenneT TSO, 50Hertz Transmission, and TransnetBW . Additionally, the transmission operator Baltic Cable AB received the congestion revenues generated at the border between Germany and Sweden .
How was this massive sum spent to improve the power network?
Under European Union regulations, the collected revenues must be spent on specific priority objectives to improve the power network . In 2019, the German transmission system operators spent this massive sum in the following ways:
Maintaining or increasing cross-border grid capacities: A total of 158,925,038 Euros was spent on optimizing the usage of existing interconnectors or covering costs for grid investments that reduce border congestion . This was the largest spending category, with individual investments of 59,475,719 Euros from Amprion, 53,148,526 Euros from TransnetBW, 24,987,824 Euros from TenneT, and 21,312,968 Euros from 50Hertz .
Guaranteeing the availability of allocated capacity: A total of 41,789,248 Euros was allocated to guarantee that the transmission capacity promised to the market was actually available, including paying for firmness compensation . TenneT was the largest contributor in this category, spending 34,306,834 Euros .
Saved for future grid projects: A remaining 9,310,427 Euros (held by Amprion) was placed into a separate internal account to be spent on these same grid improvement objectives in the future .
None of the congestion income collected in 2019 was used to lower network tariffs . Additionally, the specific infrastructure projects funded by these investments are withheld from the public due to the protection of business secrets .
Why are specific grid investment details kept hidden as business secrets?
The report does not provide specific reasons explaining why these details are considered commercially sensitive; it simply states that the details of individual grid projects and the exact distribution of the congestion revenues to their respective purposes of use are not published to ensure the protection of business secrets .
How did new EU laws change how bottleneck money is managed?
The new EU law, Regulation (EU) 2019/943 (which replaced the older Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 on January 1, 2020), introduced stricter rules and stronger regulatory oversight on how “bottleneck money” (congestion income) is managed:
Strict Spending Priorities: The regulation reinforces that congestion revenues must be used primarily for two priority goals: guaranteeing the actual availability of allocated transmission capacity (such as paying compensations) or maintaining or increasing cross-border capacities through network optimization and investments.
Limited Tariff Reductions: Grid operators can only use this money as income to lower general network tariffs if they have fully met the primary priority objectives first.
Mandatory Internal Accounts: Any residual or leftover revenues that cannot be immediately spent on the priority goals must be placed on a separate internal account line to be saved and used for those same priority purposes in the future.
Stronger European Oversight: National regulators (like the Bundesnetzagentur) must now submit detailed annual compliance reports to the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). This includes reporting on a new, standardized compliance methodology for calculating network tariffs, ensuring that the use of these funds is transparent and unified across Europe.
Why must bottleneck revenues be reinvested instead of lowering electricity bills?
Under European Union law, bottleneck revenues (congestion income) must be reinvested because guaranteeing the availability of allocated capacity and maintaining or increasing cross-border transmission capacities are legally established as the absolute priority objectives .
These funds can only be used to lower electricity bills—by reducing or fixing general network tariffs—if and when these primary priority objectives have been adequately and fully met . If those primary grid-improvement goals are not yet fulfilled, any leftover revenues cannot be used for tariff reductions and must instead be placed on a separate internal account to be saved specifically for future network reinvestments .
Source institutions：Bundesnetzagentur
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