Our electricity - simply explained
Welcome to the website of Stadtwerke Gießen - your trusted partner for electricity!
With us, you and your needs take centre stage. As your local provider of electricity, we pride ourselves on offering you not only first-class services, but also customised solutions that are perfectly tailored to your requirements. Our many years of experience and our commitment to sustainability ensure that you can rely on us - today and in the future. Discover on our website how we are constantly improving our services and what benefits we can offer you.
Electricity labelling: Sustainability made transparent
If you are looking for information on the energy mix and environmental impact of the electricity we sell, you can take a look at the electricity label.
The electricity label is updated annually (always on the basis of the figures from the previous year) and, in addition to the figures for our company, provides the average figures for Germany for comparison.
In the various tariffs, we offer you electricity in different qualities, i.e. with a different mix of energy sources. This is why you will find different pie charts in the electricity indicator, depending on the tariff. You can find out more about our different electricity qualities here.
If you want to go one better in terms of sustainability, opt for our Natur Power Aktiv products, which are certified with the Green Electricity Label.
The Green Electricity Label is an energy seal of quality that is supported by leading environmental organisations such as NABU and BUND.
The label guarantees 100% green electricity from renewable energy sources. In addition, a fixed amount per kilowatt hour is channelled into the expansion of renewable energies and innovative energy transition projects - guaranteed!
This is green electricity with the Green Electricity Label:
- 100% green electricity from renewable energies
- A fixed amount per kWh is used specifically to promote energy transition projects.
With Giessener Grünstrom Plus electricity quality, you are opting for 100% green electricity from renewable energies.
This is Giessener Grünstrom Plus:
- 100% green electricity from renewable energies
With Giessen green electricity, you receive electricity that is largely generated highly efficiently in combined heat and power plants in Giessen and the region (virtually right on your doorstep).
We purchase the remaining share of Giessen green electricity in the form of green electricity from renewable energies.
This is Giessen green electricity:
- 100 % nuclear-free
- 100 % coal-free
- largely generated highly efficiently in Giessen and the region
How is the electricity price made up?
The electricity price in Germany is made up of different components.
- One part is made up of state-imposed taxes, levies and surcharges.
- Another part is made up of the grid fees set by the authorities (costs for using the electricity grids and metering consumption).
- The remaining portion is attributable to the costs of procurement, sales and billing.
Taxes, duties and levies incurred
Cities and municipalities receive this concession fee in return for allowing grid operators to lay their electricity and natural gas lines in public transport routes. The grid operators charge SWG the concession fee for every kilowatt hour supplied to you.
The electricity tax was newly introduced in Germany on 1 April 1999 as an "eco-tax" as part of the law on the introduction of the ecological tax reform. The electricity tax currently amounts to 2.05 Ct/kWh.
A large part of the electricity tax revenue flows into the additional federal subsidy for the statutory pension insurance scheme. The electricity tax is also intended to incentivise energy savings.
The offshore grid levy is used to cover the costs of compensation in the event of disruptions or delays in the connection of offshore wind turbines and also to cover the costs of constructing and operating the offshore connection lines.
The German Combined Heat and Power Act (KWK-G), which dates back to 2000, stipulates a CHP levy to promote the particularly environmentally friendly generation of electricity using combined heat and power. The levy is used, for example, to finance state subsidies for the maintenance and modernisation of CHP plants.
The levy serves to relieve companies of the burden of grid fees. Grid fees are generally paid by all electricity consumers; they are regulated in the Electricity Grid Fee Ordinance (StromNEV). According to Section 19 of the StromNEV, individual (reduced) grid fees are granted under certain conditions, e.g. in the case of particularly high electricity consumption. The legislator bases this on the fact that very energy-intensive companies do not place a burden on the grids, but have a stabilising effect due to their consistent, predictable use. Reduced grid charges reduce the income of grid operators. To make up for the shortfall in revenue, a surcharge is calculated and applied to the grid fees: All end consumers pay the Section 19 StromNEV surcharge proportionately as a separate amount with their electricity bill.
In 2024, the Section 19 StromNEV levy was subsequently corrected upwards. This was due to the cancellation of the planned federal subsidy for transmission grid fees in the wake of the budget crisis.
As sales tax (also known colloquially as VAT) is currently charged at a rate of 19% on the net amount of the electricity bill, which already includes electricity tax and other levies, for example, this results in double taxation of electricity. This is because you also pay VAT on the electricity tax.
Metering charges
The metering service provider or metering point operator charges fees for the metering and billing of energy consumption. If the customer does not expressly commission a company separately with the metering service, this is carried out by the so-called "basic metering point operator" on the basis of corresponding regulations in the Metering Point Operation Act (MsbG). This is usually identical to the distribution network operator to whom this task was already assigned before the new legal regulation.