Options for Fair Grid Charges to Enhance the Energy Transition in Austria (Fair-Grid)

The project "Fair-Grid" aims at contributing to the research on the financing of electricity grids in the context of the transition towards a renewable energy system. The challenge is to ensure a stable and economically efficient provision of grid services and to attribute costs to the different beneficiaries in a fair way. In the context of this project, "fair" means that all energy consumers and producers contribute to the financing of the electricity grid and that low-income stakeholders are not be made worse off. Specifically, we will focus on two research questions: (1) What are suitable mechanisms, considering different criteria for fairness while ensuring the required grid expansion, for distributing the grid expansion and maintenance costs between different actors, i.e., the public budget, electric utilities, and final consumers? (2) In accordance with the above, what are the suitable mechanisms for distributing grid costs between prosumers and mere electricity consumers?