Source: Energie & Management Powernews, 28 October 2022
It has clarified in the 15 years of its existence a good 14,000 interpretation conflicts between plant and network operators initially without a court: the Clearing House EEG | KWKG.
The Clearingstelle EEG | KWKG has drawn a positive interim conclusion of their work as mediators, technical and legal experts as well as arbitration court on the occasion of their establishment on 15 October 2007. According to a balance, the Berlin-based body received a good 14,000 inquiries by the end of 2021.
As a result, its website also offers the largest freely accessible database on legal cases in certain segments of energy law: more than 4,000 entries on the interpretation of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG) and the Metering Point Operation Act (MsbG). However, the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) is not part of the clarification mandate.
Free of charge and without a lawyer, all relevant plant operators, direct marketers, grid and metering point operators can inquire - via online or paper form - in case of conflicts or potential disputes. In 2021, 1,089 questions were received. On average, it took only 16 days - with a downward trend - to receive the first decision on whether the case has already been decided.
In 2 percent of the inquiries, the clearinghouse declared itself not responsible. Inquirers can, however, for such cases immediately tick the forwarding, for example, to the Federal Network Agency.
10 percent chargeable formal proceedings
Every tenth submission concerns new legal territory. Then the applicants are entitled to a formal procedure, for which they must pay fees - this also a difference to the arbitration board energy, which worries only about conflicts of private energy customers with suppliers and whose procedure costs always carry the attacked enterprises.
The clearing office sounds out then with the parties, the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK), to which it is assigned, as well as industry federations a consensual interpretation. Or it acts as a binding voluntary arbitration tribunal. 640 formal proceedings were completed by the end of 2021.
A good 10,000 euros for 5 MWel CHP
The "fees" then depend on the renewable technology and the type of energy conversion. And they are staggered according to electrical output: for example, according to the published fee schedule, the agency charges just under 10,500 euros for a 5-MWel block-type thermal power station. For the same output of a wind turbine, 4,500 euros are due, and for PV, a good 2,500 euros. The minimum fee is 75 euros. Trials would be mostly more expensive - and public.
The clearinghouse, which has grown to 32 forces, also receives grants from the BMWK since 2013. Previously, it had been assigned to the Federal Environment Ministry.
"Our task is to clarify conflicts. In doing so, we remain strictly neutral," emphasizes Martin Winkler, scientific director of the clearinghouse, which itself has no legal capacity. It belongs to the Relaw GmbH. Winkler manages its business together with the commercial director Sönke Dibbern. Dibbern calls the office a "service provider for the industry." In addition to its decisions, the clearinghouse has so far conducted 41 "expert discussions" with a total of more than 5,000 participants.
CHP still moderately represented
The strong growth in the number of EEG plants and the EEG itself were the drivers for setting up the office. The EEG has grown from its original ten paragraphs 22 years ago to 200. In 2021, by far the most questions, a good third, were directly about money: EEG subsidies or CHP surcharges. Every sixth inquiry dealt with metering.
The clearinghouse was endowed with decision-making powers from the outset - this a consequence of the moderate success of the purely advisory clearinghouse NRW with about 40 industry representatives.
In 2017, the then new Metering Point Operation Act (MsbG) was added to the clarification mandate in Berlin, and in 2018 the electricity side of cogeneration. "Whereby this area is not yet so flying," admits Managing Director Winkler: of all inquiries came
- 74 percent to photovoltaics.
- Biomass represented 8 percent,
- CHP and wind power dealt with 3 percent each
- and hydropower 2 percent.
Three praises from the industry
"The Clearinghouse EEG|KWKG does valuable work," praises Kerstin Andreae, chief executive of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). The German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) seconds: "The Clearing House has earned a reputation as a fair, unbureaucratic and professional institution that offers quick help and concrete proposals for solutions." For the law firm Becker Büttner Held, the institution is "indispensable."
Author: Georg Eble
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