Hours of use

A year's energy divided by its highest quarter-hour power, in hours; German grid fees switch between two price structures at 2,500 hours.

Explained in

Charging infrastructure · Deep diveThe grid connection offer, line by lineThe grid operator's offer for the hub's 1.2 MW medium-voltage connection, line by line: connection point, capacity, construction cost contribution, cable, grid fees, timeline and conditions, with the rules behind each line.

The grid fees. The regulation on grid charges sets a capacity price per kilowatt of the year's peak and an energy price per kilowatt-hour, in two zones divided at 2,500 hours of use a year. A hub at 10% utilisation sits far below that line, so it pays the low capacity price and the high energy price.

From “Where the numbers come from”, stop 10
  1. UtilisationHow intensively a charger is used, for example in sessions or energy per day.
  2. Grid feeWhat a grid operator charges for the use of its grid, as part of the electricity price; in Germany, sites with power metering also pay per kilowatt of the year's peak.
  3. Construction cost contributionA one-off payment to the grid operator for the grid behind a new or enlarged connection; in Germany, above low voltage, priced per kilowatt of agreed capacity.
  1. Gesetze im Internet: Stromnetzentgeltverordnung (StromNEV), § 17 Ermittlung der Netzentgelte. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stromnev/__17.html. Checked 11 Oct 2026.