Eichrecht
Eichrecht is a German law that regulates the measurement and pricing of electricity at publicly accessible charge points, when users pay for the electricity supplied. Eichrecht, or calibration law, consists in the Mess- und Eichgesetz and the Preisangabenverordnung.
Mess- und Eichgesetz
The Mess- und Eichgesetz requires that meters in charge stations be calibrated to provide accurate electricity readings. Charge stations must be tested and approved by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). They can only be used for commercial operations in a public location once a type-examination certificate has been issued.
Under this law, Eichrecht-compliant charge stations must store signed meter values, and either share these with drivers on an in-built display or transmit them securely to a back-end system so they can be retrieved and validated by the end user.
Preisangabenverordnung
The Preisangabenverordnung specifies that electricity supplied at public charge points must be invoiced in units of price per kWh, including VAT and all applicable consumer taxes.
Time-based tariffs (such as cents/minute) are not permitted, because they fail to account for differences in charging speed. This would discriminate unfairly against drivers whose vehicles charge at a slower rate.
Therefore, end-user bills can only be based on the following tariff structures:
- Price per kWh (€/kWh)
- Starting fee + Price per kWh (€/kWh)
- Price per kWh (€/kWh) + Parking fee
- Starting fee + Price per kWh (€/kWh) + Parking fee
