Environmental policy targets considerably affect the energy sector and change its structure substantially. For the electricity distribution sector, the prospective key will be a technological upgrade towards an intelligent network infrastructure, commonly denominated as smart grids. Their...

The 1998 Energy Act liberalised the German Electricity Supply Industry. Unlike all other EU Member states, Germany opted for negotiated network access, which was manifested in the so called Verbändevereinbarungen. According to these rules, German network charges should be cost plus calculated...