New function in the online portal makes cost changes visible with a click.

Sharply increased grid fees in 2017 are once again causing higher electricity expenses for small and medium-sized commercial and industrial enterprises. Many SMEs are often unaware of the additional costs or find it difficult to determine them, as each grid operator demands different levels of charges. For customers with many locations spread across Germany, this is a challenge in controlling. enPORTAL transfers the current developments in the energy market to the profile of energy-intensive business customers and presents a novelty: in the B2B online portal, it is possible to see at the click of a mouse which additional costs will be incurred per offtake point and in total for the company due to the grid charges in 2017. The quick overview replaces the tedious calculation of electricity expenses and supports managing directors, controllers and energy buyers in business planning. This leads to transparency and cost control in commercial electricity data management.

Additional costs for grid fees 2017 visible with a click

The expansion of renewable energies and the stabilisation of the electricity grids are reasons for the sharp increase in grid fees in 2017, which affect every company. In order to support medium-sized business managers as well as energy buyers from industry in calculating the new electricity expenses, enPORTAL has added a function to its online portal that is unique in the market: under the new tab "Grid fee development", commercial and industrial customers can see in a table their respective offtake points as well as the associated additional costs for electricity that will be incurred exclusively due to the increase in grid fees in 2017. "With us, entrepreneurs immediately receive information about the additional electricity expenses they will incur for the current supply year and are not left in the dark when it comes to estimating their electricity costs," says Clemens Graf von Wedel, founder and owner of enPORTAL.

Transparency in the case of different network charges

The enPORTAL service is particularly worthwhile for companies with numerous locations or offtake points that are distributed throughout Germany and have different grid charges. With around 860 different network operators, controllers spend a lot of time and effort calculating and adding up the individual additional costs. Thanks to enPORTAL, this can now be done with a click: All of the offtake points are listed in a table, the costs of the 2016 and 2017 grid charges are placed next to each other and the difference is displayed in another column. Since all energy data is available in the cloud, the enPORTAL developers were able to link the individual network charges to it. "With the expansion of our online portal, we create a quick overview of costs that provides security from a business perspective," says Rainer Otto, founder and owner of enPORTAL. The portal operator receives the current values around the grid charges, taxes and levies from the long-standing cooperation partner and database operator ene't.

Compensate for additional costs through forward-looking purchasing

Entrepreneurs who want to compensate for their rising electricity costs can achieve this with forward-looking energy procurement online. In addition to energy data management, enPORTAL offers tenders via the online marketplace that reach up to 570 energy suppliers. The intense competition and short deadlines ensure the best energy prices at the time of the tender. Favourable purchase times can be determined with a "stock price alert" and a daily "energy price forecast". "With our online portal, buyers are well equipped to optimise their energy procurement. Even inexperienced managers can quickly become professionals and save electricity costs," says Clemens Graf von Wedel, Managing Director of enPORTAL.