The capacity tariff is not an additional tariff, but a new calculation applied to the calculation of part of the network tariffs from Jan. 1, 2023.

These are the costs you pay for the construction and maintenance of the electricity grid. The calculation of the capacity tariff differs if you have an analog or digital meter.

The capacity tariff applies to electricity, not natural gas. The digital meter measures your electricity consumption per quarter hour in kWh. During this quarter-hour, you do not always take the same amount of electricity from the grid, so there are higher and lower peaks in electricity consumption. The average consumption during fifteen minutes is called the quarter-hourly power (in kW).

The monthly peak is equal to the highest quarter power in one month. For the capacity tariff, the grid operator recalculates the average of the last 12 monthly peaks each month. Suppose your average monthly peak for a given month is less than 2.5 kW, VREG charges a minimum amount for that month.

That minimum amount corresponds to a monthly peak of 2.5 kW.