How consumers save money with power outages

Dusseldorf Every day at 10.45 a.m. the power goes out at Julian Affeldt’s. The teacher from Brandenburg cannot charge his electric car for an hour and a half. And the heat pump with which it heats does nothing during this time either. At 5:45 p.m., the same thing happens again.

Affeldt is enthusiastic about what sounds at least unpleasant to some electricity consumers. “This opportunity should be used much more,” he says. “Much of what the federal government is hoping for can already be implemented today.”

What the federal government hopes for is a future in which everyone will consume electricity when there is a lot of wind and solar power in the grid – and save electricity when little electricity is available. This is how the energy transition should succeed quickly. And electricity will become cheaper for consumers.

Affeldt is already benefiting from cheaper electricity today. Because he has a so-called interruptible electricity meter. His power grid operator interrupts the power supply for the heat pump and electric car twice a day. Because at these times the power grid is particularly stressed. Every electricity consumer that is eliminated during this time brings relief. In return, they pay less electricity grid fees and thus have a lower electricity bill overall.

What Affeldt does should become mandatory for all consumers in the future. That’s what the federal government is planning. The Federal Network Agency wrote a key issues paper last December. This includes necessary measures to prevent power failures and overloads in the power grid.

In the key issues paper there is a half-sentence in relation to electricity consumers, which has since caused a stir: “Acceptance of necessary comfort restrictions through switching measures.”

In concrete terms, this means that if there is a threat of network overload, in future every electricity network operator should be able to temporarily switch off the electricity for some devices from every electricity customer. Or at least throttle the amount of electricity available.

>> Read also: When the municipal utility unplugs the electric car

Last week, a broad alliance of different associations criticized the Federal Network Agency for its plan. They describe the project as one-sided and unreasonable. The associations include the Federal Consumer Association (VZBV), the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), but also the Federal Association of Heat Pumps (bwp) and the Federal Association of the New Energy Industry (bne).

Widespread heat pump tariffs

The concern of many associations and consumers: Especially when an electricity user urgently needs to charge their electric car, the electricity could fail. The key issues paper states that the power output should be limited to a maximum of 3.7 kilowatts. To charge a distance of 50 kilometers, an average electric car would have to be at the charging station for three hours. Companies and consumer advocates complain that consumers are restricted in their use of electricity.

But the project of the federal government not only calls critics on the scene. People like Affeldt rave about the advantages that interruptible electricity tariffs bring – for the power grid and their own wallet.

Affeldt uses a so-called heat pump tariff. These tariffs are not uncommon for homeowners who heat with a heat pump. The energy expert Reinhard Loch from the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center says: “Heat pump users almost always have a heat pump electricity tariff.”

Network operator was initially opposed

According to Loch, such heat pump tariffs are on average three to five cents cheaper per kilowatt hour than normal electricity tariffs. With a typical annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours per year for a family with a heat pump, up to 250 euros could be saved.

In return, the power supply to the heat pump is temporarily cut off twice a day. Normally, however, users do not notice this in the heat supply to their rooms. Affeldt says: “We don’t have a particularly modern house and we don’t have a buffer tank, but we don’t notice it at all, no matter how cold it is outside.”

At Affeldt, however, there is another special feature that is rarely found: his electric car also gets discounted electricity through his heat pump tariff. Because his wall box is connected to the same electricity meter as his heat pump – while the rest of the household electricity runs through a different meter. “My network operator initially said that it wasn’t possible. But then my electrician and I presented the grid operator with the text of the law – and then it worked,” Affeldt recalls.

E-car in the garage at home

Heat pump tariffs are on average three to five cents cheaper per kilowatt hour than normal electricity tariffs. There are often additional special e-car tariffs.

(Photo: dpa)

It refers to paragraph 14a of the Energy Industry Act. It states that network operators must charge consumers a reduced network fee if, in return, the “network-oriented control of controllable consumption devices” that have a separate electricity meter have been agreed with them.

According to the law, heat pumps, charging points for electric cars and “systems for generating cold or storing electrical energy and night storage heaters” are considered “controllable consumption devices”.

Cheap PV electricity in summer, cheap heat pump electricity in winter

If you own several of these facilities, you can theoretically combine them. Affeldt has not only installed a heat pump and an electric car, but also a photovoltaic system on his roof. In the summer he gets the electricity he needs for his electric car cheaply from his own roof. In winter he gets it cheaply via his heat pump tariff – and can not charge at times.

Every German homeowner with a heat pump and electric car can do it this way – at least the teacher from Brandenburg is convinced of that. All you have to do is figure out whether it’s worth it, despite the cost of the additional electricity meter installed for the heat pump tariff.

If a new meter cabinet is required, the installation of the new meter can cost over 1000 euros. But with such a high level of electricity consumption, such as that generated by heat pumps and electric cars in a year, it is still worth it.

However, it is questionable whether it is actually that easy to follow this example. At least for consumers who don’t want to patiently discuss their case with their network operator and electricity supplier like Affeldt and his electrician do.

Electricity suppliers block combined tariff use

Because at least from the electricity suppliers, which the Handelsblatt surveyed, came skeptical reactions. For example, a spokeswoman for Stadtwerke München said when asked whether there was the option of connecting a wall box to the heat pump tariff: “No. Stadtwerke München offers customers with heat pumps and wall boxes a separate electricity supply contract for each of the two consumption devices.”

The background is that the network charges for heat pumps and electric cars are different. A spokesman for EnBW made a similar statement: “At EnBW there are separate tariffs for wall boxes and heat pumps.” If the network charges for heat pumps and wall boxes are different, correct measurement of the different devices cannot take place without separate meters.

The green electricity provider Lichtblick also says: “A combination of heating current and driving current is currently not possible. But that is also unusual, also because the tariffs are different.”

>> Also read: Is the heat pump worthwhile in the long term in comparison?

Consumer advocate Loch explains that there are often two different tariffs for e-car electricity and heat pump electricity. The reason: grid operators assume certain, typical load profiles that heat pump customers have. To put it simply: When it’s cold, for example, they need a lot of electricity.

However, an electric car that is connected to the same meter will mess up the load profile. It gets even worse when a photovoltaic system comes into play. Loch says: “Grid operators often resist customers who want an interruptible electricity tariff, but also a PV system – because they have such a crazy load profile.”

Such customers make it not easy for grid operators, but rather more difficult to plan and control the load in the electricity grid.

“I also know that I don’t go to the gas station at eight on Mondays because it’s always ten cents more expensive then.”

Affeldt would like to go much further. He says: “It would also make sense to think about increasing the number of consumers that can be connected, because air conditioning systems, refrigerators and many other devices could also be operated in this way without any loss of comfort.”

Power storage devices are also currently not approved as interruptible loads. Affeldt would like the legal situation to change and he would also like to be able to connect his electricity storage device to his interruptible electricity meter. After all, he argues, an electric car battery is nothing more than an electricity storage device.

Affeldt has a so-called dynamic electricity tariff for the remaining electrical appliances in his house. He always pays the current market price for the electricity. So if electricity is cheap on the stock exchange, for example because the wind is blowing and a lot of wind energy is being fed in, his washing machine is running. In this way, he also saves money and relieves the network.

>> Read also: Why electricity providers hide flexible tariffs from customers

It is also dynamic tariffs that many associations see as a better alternative to the severe power cuts that the federal government is planning. This is because consumers can decide for themselves to use less electricity at certain times based on price incentives.

Affeldt believes that this corresponds to the savings mentality of many Germans. He says: “I also know that I don’t drive to the gas station at eight on Mondays because it’s always ten cents more expensive then. You just have to learn that, that’s what this new energy world brings with it.”

Until German legislation is as far as Affeldt would like, he will try to promote grid-friendly electricity consumption in Germany on his own. “I started my own business,” says the teacher, who now only works part-time in his actual job. “I plan PV systems and advise people on their power consumption and charging options.” In the meantime, he has implemented well over 100 projects together with local trade companies.

More: Up to 600 billion euros: The energy transition requires enormous investments

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