The 4 Parts of Your Bill: Energy, Network Tariff, Levies and VAT
- Energy cost: the price per kWh charged by your supplier — this is the part that differs between suppliers and contract types.
- Network tariff: transport and distribution costs for using the electricity or gas grid, set by the distribution grid operator — not supplier-dependent.
- Levies: contributions such as the federal special excise duty or a regional Energy Fund contribution, also largely independent of which supplier you choose.
- VAT: applies to the whole.
Fixed, Variable or Dynamic Contracts: How They Appear on Your Bill
With a fixed or variable contract, your statement usually shows one (or a few, by meter type) unit price per kWh. With a dynamic contract, the price varies per quarter-hour or per hour, tied to the wholesale market — your annual statement then shows an average, but your real cost depends on exactly when you used electricity.
Solar Panels: Understanding the Injection Tariff
Anyone feeding electricity back into the grid gets compensated per kWh for it — the injection tariff can vary significantly between suppliers and contract types, and weighs at least as heavily on your yearly cost as the purchase price itself.
Why This Matters for a Comparison
A fair contract comparison recalculates each of these components separately against your own usage profile — not just the energy cost, because comparing that alone gives a distorted picture of what you're actually paying.