2027 surcharges: what higher electricity surcharges cost businesses and landlords

The short answer

The grid-fee-based surcharges on electricity rise from 2.946 to 3.621 cents per kilowatt hour in 2027, an increase of 0.675 cents or almost 23 percent. For a business using 100,000 kWh that is around 675 euros more net per year, for an apartment building with 12,000 kWh of communal electricity about 81 euros.

The headline from the transmission operators was the almost unchanged CHP surcharge. The real increase sits in two other items. Anyone budgeting for 2027 should therefore calculate the whole surcharge side rather than pick out a single figure.

Which surcharges apply in 2027, and how high are they?

Three items apply to every kilowatt hour of grid electricity. Under § 11 of the Energy Financing Act (Energiefinanzierungsgesetz) the transmission operators must publish the surcharges for the following year by 25 October. For 2027 this happened on 26 October 2026.

Item	2026	2027	Change
CHP surcharge (KWKG)	0.446 ct/kWh	0.451 ct/kWh	+0.005
Offshore grid surcharge	0.941 ct/kWh	1.143 ct/kWh	+0.202 (+21 %)
Special grid use surcharge (up to 1 GWh)	1.559 ct/kWh	2.027 ct/kWh (provisional)	+0.468 (+30 %)
Total	2.946 ct/kWh	3.621 ct/kWh	+0.675 (+23 %)

The CHP and offshore figures are on netztransparenz.de; the special grid use surcharge is provisionally 2.027 cents according to innobu. The offshore surcharge covers compensation payments and the grid connection of offshore wind farms. For 2027 it also includes a catch-up amount from the 2025 annual settlement.

Who is affected, and who is not?

It affects all non-privileged end consumers: households, landlords for communal electricity, operators of heat pump and tenant electricity tariffs, and the large majority of commercial businesses. Energy-intensive companies with a relief provision pay reduced rates. Retail, offices and hospitality have no such relief.

The surcharges are not part of the price a supplier negotiates. Every supplier passes them on in the same way. That is why a business switching supplier only influences the procurement share. How the business electricity price is made up overall is shown in the guide to the components of business electricity prices.

What does that cost in practice? A worked example

Assumption: a commercial business with 100,000 kWh annual consumption and an apartment building with 12,000 kWh of communal electricity, both up to 1 GWh and non-privileged. All amounts net.

	Business, 100,000 kWh	Apartment building, 12,000 kWh
Surcharges 2026 (2.946 ct)	€2,946	€354
Surcharges 2027 (3.621 ct)	€3,621	€435
Additional cost	€675	€81

That is small relative to the total bill. At a price of 23.66 cents per kilowatt hour in the mid-sized band (Destatis, first half of 2026) it is just under three percent. Timing matters, though: several changes take effect together on 1 January 2027. The electricity tax stays at 20.50 euros per megawatt hour, the CO₂ price is meant to stay in the corridor of 55 to 65 euros per tonne under the draft law, and grid fees are still provisional.

Is a surcharge on gas coming too?

It is planned. The draft bill on the gas reserve provides for a levy on every kilowatt hour of gas from 1 October 2027; for a household using 20,000 kWh the ministry expects 3.77 to 7.20 euros a year. It has not been passed. Larger gas consumers such as property owners or businesses bear the amount many times over, because it applies to every kilowatt hour. Gas grid fees rise by just over one percent in 2027 according to the first price sheets (ene't, as of 8 October 2026, provisional).

How should this be assessed politically?

The EEG surcharge was abolished in 2022 and the federal budget funds the support. The costs of grid connection, combined heat and power and grid management nevertheless remain on the electricity bill. They grow with the expansion of offshore wind and an increasingly renewable grid. This is not a statement about right or wrong, but a shift: from the visible surcharge to the less visible grid items. Anyone measuring energy policy by what it costs businesses has to look at exactly these items.

What to do now

1. Combine surcharges, grid fees, electricity tax and CO₂ price for 2027 in one calculation instead of assessing them separately.
2. Check the supplier's price letter: are the new surcharges passed on correctly and not twice?
3. As a landlord, look at communal electricity and heat pump electricity separately and include the additional cost in the 2027 operating-cost budget.
4. Note 7 December: by then the federal subsidy for transmission grid costs needs legal certainty, otherwise the final grid fees will rise.
5. Every kilowatt hour saved lowers all items at once. Load management and self-generation are therefore the most stable lever.