Section 14a of Germany's Energy Industry Act, the Energiewirtschaftsgesetz or EnWG, provides the legal basis for grid-oriented control of specified electrical loads in the low-voltage network. The Bundesnetzagentur decisions BK6-22-300 and BK8-22/010-A define the control regime and the associated reductions in network charges that have applied to new installations since 1 January 2024.
The rules are specific. They do not make every large electrical load controllable, require a separate meter for every covered device or turn ordinary energy-monitoring equipment into part of the regulated control chain.
This guide explains the published framework in operational terms. It is not legal, tariff or electrical-design advice. Confirm the current arrangement with the relevant distribution system operator, metering-point operator, electricity supplier and qualified electrical contractor before commissioning or changing an installation.
What Section 14a Does
For installations within scope, the distribution system operator may temporarily limit the power imported from the public network by a controllable consumption device when a concrete local network overload or threat to network security exists. In return, the operator of the device receives a reduction in network charges.
The framework also prevents a distribution system operator from refusing or delaying a new covered connection merely because of a possible local overload. Grid expansion remains necessary; controllability is a temporary congestion tool, not a substitute for reinforcement.
The control concerns net power imported from the public distribution network. It does not authorise control of normal household consumption or require a photovoltaic system or battery to export energy.
Which Installations Are in Scope
The current Bundesnetzagentur framework generally applies when all of these conditions are met:
- the controllable consumption device is connected to the low-voltage network;
- its network connection rating is more than 4.2 kW;
- it belongs to a covered category; and
- it was commissioned on or after 1 January 2024, or an eligible existing installation has moved into the new regime.
The covered categories are:
- private, non-public electric-vehicle charging equipment;
- heat pumps, including auxiliary or emergency electric heaters;
- equipment for space cooling; and
- electrical storage systems, but only in relation to their import of electricity from the public network for charging.
The threshold is more than 4.2 kW, not 4.2 kW or more. Smaller heat pumps or cooling units belonging to the same operator may have to be grouped by category when their combined rating exceeds the threshold. The published grouping treatment is not a general rule for adding every device behind one connection.
Publicly accessible charging points, ordinary household loads and electricity export are outside this control regime. Night-storage heating retains its previous arrangements rather than moving into the new framework.
Existing installations need their own classification
Commissioning date and the previous agreement both matter:
- Commissioned before 1 January 2024 with an existing control agreement: the former conditions continue until 31 December 2028, with migration to the new regime from 1 January 2029. A voluntary earlier move is possible and cannot then be reversed.
- Commissioned before 1 January 2024 without an existing control agreement: the installation is generally exempt, but may opt into the new regime voluntarily.
- Commissioned from 1 January 2024 and within scope: participation is mandatory.
- Replaced or materially changed: an installation that formerly had existing-installation protection may be treated as a new installation. The exact facts should be checked with the network operator and installer.
How Grid-Oriented Dimming Works
The operator chooses between direct control of each device and control through an energy-management system (EMS).
With direct control, the distribution system operator sends a limit to the controllable device. For an ordinary covered device, the available net import must generally remain at least 4.2 kW. This is a maximum-import limit during the event, not a command to consume 4.2 kW.
With EMS control, the distribution system operator provides one overall limit for the participating devices behind the connection. The EMS decides how to allocate that available import among them. On-site generation and energy discharged from a battery can still be used behind the connection because the regulated limit concerns import from the public network.
Large heat pumps and cooling systems need different treatment. Where their combined network connection rating exceeds 11 kW, the direct-control minimum is calculated using the current scaling factor, published as 0.4. EMS arrangements also use a simultaneity factor based on the participating devices. A blanket statement that every installation always receives exactly 4.2 kW is therefore incomplete.
Duration and the transitional control method
Grid-oriented control may continue only while the relevant threat or disturbance exists and must end when it has passed. The permanent framework does not provide a general two-hour maximum for a measured congestion event.
There is a distinct transitional method for a network area that cannot yet be controlled from current network-state data. If planning data indicates a likely threat, preventive control may be used for no more than two hours per day and for no more than 24 months after preventive control is first used in that area. Those limits describe the transitional method, not every Section 14a event.
The Three Network-Charge Modules
The reduction concerns network charges, not the electricity supplier's energy price. The applicable values and processes depend on the network area, supplier and metering arrangement.
Module 1: flat annual reduction
Module 1 is the default when no other eligible module is selected. It provides a flat annual reduction calculated under the Bundesnetzagentur method. It does not require a separate meter for the controllable device and is granted per market location, not once per device.
Module 2: reduced volumetric network charge
Module 2 reduces the network-charge energy price to 40 percent of the ordinary value for low-voltage consumption without registered load measurement. It requires the controllable consumption to be measured through a separate meter or metering point. The network operator may not charge a network-charge base price for that separate consumption.
This is the important boundary: a separate meter is a Module 2 condition, not a universal Section 14a requirement. The Bundesnetzagentur states that a new covered device may otherwise be connected through the general household meter.
Module 3: time-variable network charge
Module 3 has been available since 1 April 2025 as an addition to Module 1. It uses three network-charge tariff levels and requires an intelligent metering system. It applies to the complete network import billed through the relevant market location, not only to one controllable device. Module 3 cannot be combined with Module 2.
The economics of the three arrangements depend on consumption, timing, local network charges, meter costs and the supplier's implementation. A monitoring-system estimate is not a tariff quotation.
Metering, Registration and the Control Chain
Before commissioning a new covered device, its operator must notify the distribution system operator under the applicable connection process and select direct or EMS control. The operator must also arrange the necessary measurement and control equipment with the metering-point operator or network operator.
The intended regulated path uses an intelligent metering system and connected control equipment. Section 14a EnWG states that once the metering point has an intelligent metering system, control must follow the Metering Point Operation Act, the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik technical requirements and Bundesnetzagentur decisions through the Smart Meter Gateway. Transitional equipment may still be used in individual cases while that infrastructure is installed.
The official meter, Smart Meter Gateway, control unit, device or EMS interface and market processes form one regulated chain. The parties should agree and test:
- which device or device group is within scope;
- whether control is direct or through an EMS;
- the rated power and applicable minimum-import calculation;
- the selected network-charge module and its metering prerequisites;
- the responsible network operator, metering-point operator and supplier;
- the approved physical and logical control interface;
- behaviour on communications failure, power loss and recovery; and
- evidence that a requested limit was received and applied without affecting excluded loads.
Where Operational Monitoring Helps
Independent circuit monitoring can still be useful. A building operator may want to understand EV charging demand, heat-pump electrical performance, coincident peaks, on-site generation or the operating result before and after a control event. Those are operational energy-management questions.
They are not automatically settlement or compliance measurements. Section 14a does not prescribe a general 15-minute or one-second logging requirement for a building owner's separate monitoring system, and an additional submeter does not prove that the regulated command path worked.
Keep at least three evidence boundaries distinct:
- Settlement evidence: the authorised metering arrangement used for network charges and supplier billing.
- Control evidence: the command, limit, acknowledgement and device or EMS response in the approved Section 14a control chain.
- Operational evidence: independent measurements used for engineering analysis, fault finding, capacity planning or internal reporting.
A project can reconcile those records, but should not silently substitute one for another. Timestamps, measurement intervals, time zones, device identity and the point at which power is measured all need to be explicit.
The EpiSensor Boundary
EpiSensor does not provide a certified German Smart Meter Gateway, regulated control unit or billing meter for Section 14a. Its public product range must not be presented as the distribution system operator's control channel or as proof of eligibility for a network-charge module.
The ZEM electricity-monitoring family can provide a separate circuit-level measurement layer for suitable electrical installations. Edge can analyse and export configured operational data to another system. Any use alongside a Section 14a installation needs an agreed measurement boundary, qualified electrical design and a separately specified integration. Shared protocol names do not establish compatibility with a metering-point operator, control unit, EMS or distribution system operator.
Use the EV charging load-management guide or heat-pump performance-monitoring guide to design that operational layer. Use the relevant German regulated parties and a qualified installer to design and approve the Section 14a metering and control path.
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