Across Europe, investments into grids are lagging behind what’s needed as the continent embraces heat pumps and electric vehicles. “Waiting time for permits for grid reinforcements are between 4-10 years, and 8-10 years for high voltages,” the European Commission said on Tuesday (28 November) as it unveiled a new Action Plan to accelerate the deployment of electricity grids. “Grids need to be an enabler, not a bottleneck in the clean energy transition,” said Kadri Simson, the EU’s energy commissioner.

In Germany, the network regulator is now taking steps to throttle the electricity delivered to EVs and heat pumps to alleviate pressure on the grid. “We are taking precautions to ensure that heat pumps and charging facilities for electric cars can be connected quickly and operated safely,” said Klaus Müller, president of the federal grid agency.

The country’s 880 local grid operators get to throttle the devices when power demand threatens “acute damage or overloading of the network”.For that duration, devices will receive a trickle of 4.2 kilowatts per hour – on which heat pumps can continue running, and EVs can be charged for a 50-kilometre ride within two hours, the regulator says. Other household devices won’t be affected. Müller says he expects “interventions by the grid operator to remain the exception.”

The rules come into effect on 1 January 2024, with a two-year grace period. From 2025, Germany wants to take time-variable consumption tariffs seriously and reward consumers at times of the day when cheap solar or wind electricity are abundant. Until then, owners of heat pumps and EV charging stations at home have the option of slashing their bills by €110 to €190 by allowing local grid operators to reduce power supplies when needed. If devices are connected to a dedicated meter, power prices could even be slashed by 60%.