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On 26 July 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart decided that in the event of a new concession being awarded, the transmission of an electricity and gas network in accordance with § 46 (2) sentence 2 EnWG also basically includes the high-voltage and high-pressure plants, as far as these are required for the new concessionaire to carry out his supply tasks. The regulation is constitutionally unobjectionable. The takeover claim, therefore, includes high-voltage and high-pressure lines, high-voltage to medium-voltage substations, gas pressure control and measuring systems, even if they are used in combination, i. e. which serve both to supply the municipal area and to or from outside the municipal area. (OLG Stuttgart, Decision of 26.07.2018 - Case No.: 2 U 4/17)

By decision of 13 July 2018, the Bavarian Administrative Court (Case No.: 8 CE 18.1071) decided that charging stations for electric vehicles may in principle be erected on publicly dedicated road surfaces by municipalities as road construction load carriers without a building permit. The main reason for the decision was that plants of such a size and such a simple nature are not road components that are subject to building law. Rather, road law is applicable here.

We have joined the German-French Office for the Energy Turnaround in order to provide legal and scientific support for the energy turnaround not only in Germany but also in France via the DFBEW platform. After joining the Forum Contracting e. V. and the Bundesverband Energiespeicher e. V. (German Energy Storage Association) (BVES), we are intensifying our commitment to a climate-friendly and sustainable energy supply by transferring knowledge, advising and supporting associations and platforms in order to meet the interests of our increasingly international client structure.

With its decision of June 6th, 2018, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) concretized the requirements of price increases for electricity in the basic supply of consumers. Not only before price adjustment but also after, the energy supply company has to disclose a detailed comparison of all cost factors listed in § 2 (3) sentence 1 no. 5 and sentence 3 StromGVV (among others electricity tax, concession fees, levies/surcharges under the EEG and KWKG, network fees, fees for operators of energy supply networks and for meter operator as well as for the measurement of the net share of costs attributable to the basic supply). Elements which are not connected to the price increase, may not be used for this purpose. (BGH, Dec. of 06.06.2018 - file ref.: VIII ZR 247/17)

Within an emergency legal protection, the OLG Düsseldorf has paused the conversion to a so-called #mixed-price procedure for the determination of the surcharge within the scope of the tender for the #minute reserve in the #control energy for a limited period until 15. 10. 2018. In this context, the court decided that, after a summary examination, there were no serious doubts against the invitation to tender by means of the mixed-price procedure, but the legality of the short implementation period (12 July 2018) According to the court, the #BNetzA did not sufficiently evaluate the necessary adjustment processes of the market participants. (OLG Düsseldorf, Decision of 11.07.2018 - 3 Kart 806/18 (V))

In its decision of 16 July 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm decided that the EEG levy also applies to electricity that is lost due to physical network losses between delivery to the closed distribution network and withdrawal of the connected final consumer. It´s not relevant whether and how the final consumer uses the electricity after delivery to the closed distribution network - in this case to the network of an airport distribution network - in the opinion of the court for the emergence of the claim to the EEG levy. In the context of the allocation system, delivery to the distribution grid is the last step. (OLG Hamm, Decicion of 16.07.2018 - Az.: 8 U 119/17)