Most German operators face fines for failing to meet smart meter quotas
Handelsblatt
Hundreds of energy companies in Germany are facing fines for failing to meet mandatory smart meter quotas, with 85 percent of metering point operators below legal installation requirements, reported Handelsblatt based on data from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).
By the end of 2025, metering point operators were expected to equip at least 20 percent of households in their area that are subject to legal installation requirements with smart meters. Yet, 688 of the 814 companies failed to do so. Almost one in four of small metering point operators have yet to install even a single smart meter, Handelsblatt said.
Meter operators are obliged to install smart meters in households with an annual electricity consumption of 6,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or those with heat pumps or electric car charging stations that exceed a power output of 4.2 kW. While smart meters have been the standard in other European countries for years, most Germans still have analogue meters.
While it remains unclear how large the fines will be, BNetzA has said they will be calculated on the extent of the breach of legal obligations and the operator's “economic capacity.”
Christina Wallraf, energy consultant at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Center, told Handelsblatt that complaints about metering point operators have increased significantly in the last two years. “Point operators are becoming increasingly important players in the implementation of the energy transition,” she said. “But many are not keeping up fast enough.”
Smart meters are a perquisite for a more dynamic and flexible power system, as they allow customers to adapt their electricity demand to when there is a very high or a very low supply or demand for electricity. Dynamic electricity tariffs, for example, reward households that align electricity consumption to power prices (which reflect supply). More flexibility on the consumption side will be crucial as the share of fluctuating renewable power sources grows in the electricity system.
A survey conducted in October last year found that 75 percent of people in Germany said they could imagine using a smart meter in their home; when smart meters were first launched in 2020, only 36 percent of people in the country were open to the technology. Also in October last year, the EU moved towards quarterly-hour electricity trading, allowing more flexibility that can be taken advantage of with smart meters.
