General framework
The BNetzA has to redetermine the equity yield rate in the electricity grid
On March 22, 2018, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court decided that the BNetzA had a faulty approach in its method to determine the equity yield rate. About 1,100 municipal utilities and network operators, including DB Netze Energy, had lodged a complaint against the permitted equity yield rate which BNetzA had reduced. The court did not provide any guidelines regarding the new rate. BNetzA has appealed against the decision to the Federal Supreme Court.
Further development of grid access model for traction current
DB Netze Energy has been providing network access to the traction current grid since 2014. In the year under review, we took significant steps to make process-related simplifications to the network access model. The corresponding suggestions are now the subject of a market consultation by the BNetzA that began in October 2018, which should lead to a formal determination by the Federal agency. This disposition will make the network access model binding and provide a stable basis for its IT-based implementation. Apart from that, the development of the market share of non-Group suppliers shows that there is functional competition in the traction current grid: in the year under review, some 70% of the final consumption of non-Group railways was provided by other suppliers.