Energy prices: grid charges for electricity and gas rise slightly nationwide in 2027

Reading an electricity meter: customers have to expect additional costs

Private households will have to expect slightly rising network charges for electricity and gas in the coming year. This is according to calculations of the comparison portal Verivox on the basis of previously published data of the distribution network operators. However, there are major regional differences.

The network charges account for about a quarter of the electricity price. They have increased in recent years. The network charges finance, among other things, the expensive expansion of the power grids. In the case of gas, network charges for household customers account for about a fifth of the price, according to the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry.

For gas, Verivox expects rising prices overall due to increased wholesale prices as a result of the Iran war. In the case of electricity, it will depend on the extent to which suppliers could still compensate for increased procurement costs. Here, the portal expects a regionally different development. Depending on the region and tariff, there could be significant price increases.

According to the calculations of the portal, electricity grid charges at the turn of the year increase nationwide by an average of 1.9 percent. For a three-person household with an annual electricity consumption of 4000 kilowatt hours, this means additional costs of around eight euros gross.

One reason for the rising network fees is therefore the reduction of the annual federal subsidy for transmission network costs by just under one billion euros to around 5.5 billion euros in 2027. The transmission system operators' fees are charged to the operators of the lower voltage levels of the so-called distribution system. On the electricity bills this is included in the item network charges.

According to Verivox, regional differences in network charges are significant. While electricity grid charges in the old federal states are rising by an average of ten euros, they are falling by an average of three euros in the new federal states.

The network charges in Hamburg increase the most. “The level of network charges also depends on the costs of expanding and operating the regional power grids,” says Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck. »Since 2025, regions where a lot of wind and solar power is generated have also been relieved.«

The comparison portal also reports that the gas network tariffs in 2027 increase on average by around three percent in Germany. For a family in a single-family house with a gas consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this would result in additional calculated costs of around 19 euros gross annually. There are also clear regional differences in gas network charges. They rise above average in Berlin, Hamburg and Rhineland-Palatinate and Brandenburg. In Saxony and Thuringia they fall slightly.

Price pressure was mainly caused by the sharp increase in wholesale prices since the start of the Iran war. “The increase in gas network charges will have little impact on the heating cost development of households in Germany compared to the exploded wholesale prices,” says Storck. We expect comprehensive price increases at the turn of the year, in which gas suppliers pass on the higher procurement costs to their customers. They will move between 10 and 20 percent depending on the current tariff