by namibj | 2025-08-05 11:12:14+00:00
Ahhh, hmmm, fair. The German approach to surprises is to take the tariff sheet that basically boils down to a flat connection fee + price-per-kWh (the meter counts in kWh), sometimes split over multiple counters for tariff's that distinguish between prime time and off-time consumption, and often coming in two or three variants which are chosen between based on what the counter says (they tend to bump the connection fee and drop the price-per-kWh above a yearly kWh threshold). Then the consumer goes to look at the meter whenever the consumer wants, calculates via simple delta (subtract baseline value from current counter value) how much has already been used in this measuring period, and compares to for example the previous year around the same time. Or if usage is sufficiently even across a year, one does some simple linear extrapolation ("x days have passed since the start of this metering period, y_start was the start counter value, y_now is the current counter value, z days long is the current metering period"->"z * (y_now - y_start) / x").

I assume the utility support would explain this way of calculating/predicting/tracking if one asks nicely.

The reasons for not smoothing out further than monthly payment intervals in a yearly measurement interval is AFAIK due to regulatory restrictions on credit/debt, and because this is more due to a metering process efficciency/overhead limitation than because they inherently want to offer these fixed/steady payments: you don't want to send out a meter reader more than about once a year, and doing it that often also conveniently spreads out seasonal variations letting the bill predictions(/estimates used for calculating the monthly payments that are due) work much nicer and easier to understand than some summer/winter split tracking.

Note this information is all about the default/baseline tariffs, which the local electrical energy seller (which is a distinct entity from the local electrical power/grid provider, who is the one that has the natural monopoly) can't refuse due to credit score or the like and which can't have any remotely long term/notice periods. Many tariffs are quite similar in style, though, due to the inherent limitations of yearly-read non-smart energy consumption counters.

Around now seems to be where finally you as a customer can demand upgrade to a smart meter which notably (from my understanding) gains the ability to live-report energy flux for 15 minute quantization/intervals, matching the European super grid's electricity market. A nice side-effect closely related to that market quantization is that these meters allow selling PV production to other units/properties nearby (at least where the connection/current path doesn't actually go through grid operator owned wiring, e.g. units in an apartment building) without having to pay grid fees on that energy sale despite the energy going through the meters instead of being sold through a behind-the-meter bypass feed/line. That "virtual" metering of the hyper-local PV energy sale makes it just much easier in terms of infrastructure, compared to some actual real-time load-balancing setup that somehow spreads an apartment building's monolithic PV array's power across multiple units's behind-the-meter breakerboxes taking care to not wastefully oversupply any one as backfeed would at best be compensated at about a third of the all-fees-included retail rate (it's about the same as the grid fee part that's payable by non-local buyers of electricity, both around 10ct/kWh) instead of 1:1 compensating the approximately 30ct/kWh buy-rate of some local apartment's meter. Also, less active infrastructure at a scale that doesn't afford on-site 24/7 staffing for monitoring and customer-side-uptime-enhancing redundancy features is always good. I'm counting a mere meter that only meters and doesn't steer/control electricity as passive infrastructure from the power flow's POV. Especially if it's built to fail in a way where power still flows but the metering/counting is broken, at least where there's more than just yearly reporting from the meter (and thus non-metering would be caught quickly).

Electricity uptime of this grade is something with perhaps underappreciated benefits: pretty much all but critical systems and those that run non-crash-safe software will not require a UPS, as power outages at least in urban areas (except those where local distribution systems drown in climate change flash flooding) happen once every few years, either due to larger-scale blackouts (entire city/metro/state) or from non-redundant local infrastructure dying of old age.