Community Workshop – What’s Broken About Industrial Electricity Pricing in Germany
Germany is rapidly expanding renewable generation. The growing share of solar and wind simultaneously puts increasing pressure on existing grid infrastructure while remaining key to autonomous and affordable electricity. Yet industrial electricity prices remain rigid, detached from actual system conditions, and largely insensitive to the availability and abundance of renewables. For energy-intensive industries, this disconnect has real consequences: lost flexibility, higher costs, and missed opportunities to use cheap green power when it is actually available.
In this seminar, we take a practical look at what is structurally broken in today’s industrial electricity pricing model — and why static pricing mechanisms undermine both competitiveness and the effective integration of renewables.
Drawing from hands-on experience in construction power supply, energy management, and large-scale operations, the session explores how current pricing frameworks affect real businesses on the ground, where theory meets contracts, meters, and balance sheets.
Speaker
Julius Werner — Executive Manager at J. Baumgartner Baustrom GmbH, leading the company’s energy subsidiary with a focus on implementing renewable energy solutions in the construction sector. Deputy CEO responsibilities spanning sales, marketing, operations, and HR. Former Senior Fellow at BwConsulting (in-house consultancy of the German Armed Forces), with a background in process optimization and strategic planning.
What you’ll learn
Why constant and inflexible electricity pricing clashes with a renewable-dominated power system
How grid fees and tariff structure significantly increase and shape the observed cost burden to all consumers.
Where industrial consumers lose flexibility — and money — under current market rules
What needs to change to align pricing, flexibility, and real-world renewable availability