Surely you know this: It's Thursday morning, 9:15 AM, a corporate customer calls and asks if you can also provide electricity for their e-vehicle fleet – not only at the business location but also on the road and at employees' homes. You have to decline. Your electricity contract only applies to the business location; for public charging stations, the customer has roaming contracts with entirely different providers, and you are also excluded from home charging for employees. The customer is frustrated, paying different prices for the same electricity at three different places, and you lose potential revenues. A scenario that repeats daily for hundreds of electricity suppliers and proves: The traditional business model "electricity only at the metering point" forfeits enormous growth potential.

The solution does not lie in even more complicated tariff structures or separate charging electricity products. It lies in the throughput model with Bring Your Own Power – a revolutionary approach that enables your customers to use your electricity everywhere. This innovation transforms you from a location-based supplier to a mobile energy partner, unlocking entirely new business fields: employee charging, home charging for company vehicles, and mobile electricity use at foreign charging points. The result: higher customer loyalty, additional revenues, and genuine differentiation in competition.

What Bring Your Own Power Means for Electricity Suppliers

Bring Your Own Power is much more than just a new billing model. It is a fundamental paradigm shift in electricity sales that dissolves the boundaries between different consumption points and makes electricity contracts mobile.

The basic idea is elegant: Your customers bring your electricity contract with them – to public charging points, to third-party depots, home. From a commercial perspective, you provide electricity wherever your customer uses it, not only at the original contract location. The electricity contract is "passed through" to various consumption points.

For you as an electricity supplier, this concretely means: A single contract covers all consumption points – business location, public charging stations, home charging of employees. You provide electricity for all these uses, correspondingly receive higher supply volumes, and strengthen customer loyalty through this comprehensive supply.

This expansion of your supply area works through virtual balancing. The electricity quantity you deliver is economically correctly distributed to various physical withdrawal points while commercially a single contract exists with your customer. This allows for economies of scale in procurement and sales with higher customer satisfaction at the same time.

Bring Your Own Contract: The Evolution of Electricity Sales

Bring Your Own Contract expands the Bring Your Own Power concept with additional strategic dimensions. Customers not only bring an electricity contract but can flexibly combine various contractual components in the future – basic supply at the location, dynamic tariffs for flexible charging, green electricity certificates for sustainability reports.

For you as an electricity supplier, this opens up entirely new product opportunities. Instead of standardized tariffs, you can offer modular contract models: base load at fixed prices, flexible components at dynamic tariffs, optional green electricity upgrades with granular proof of origin. Each customer puts together their optimal electricity mix, and you provide everything from a single source.

The differentiation in competition becomes enormous. While traditional electricity suppliers only sell standardized products at the grid connection, you offer holistic energy solutions for all consumption points. This creates real customer loyalty because a switch would mean that the customer has to reorganize all their consumption points.

The technical implementation requires integration with platforms for virtual balancing. These handle the economic processing while you can focus on customer loyalty and sales. Your existing systems must communicate with these platforms, but a complete re-implementation is not necessary.

Employee Charging: Tapping into the B2B2C Market

Employee charging is one of the most attractive business areas for electricity suppliers in the throughput model. Companies want to enable their employees with company cars or e-company cars to charge at home – with standard hardware, without complicated reimbursements, and VAT deductible.

The problem in the traditional model: The employee has a private electricity contract at home, and the company pays through complicated flat rates or reimbursement processes. The tax allocation is unclear, billing is cumbersome, and no one is truly satisfied with the solution.

With the throughput model, this problem is elegantly resolved. As the electricity supplier for the company, you deliver electricity directly to the employee's home. Commercially, the charged quantity is transaction-exactly allocated to the company contract. All on one invoice. No reimbursement. And VAT deductible.

For you, this concretely means: Instead of only supplying a company's business location, you also serve all employees with company cars. A corporate customer with 50 company cars becomes 51 withdrawal points for you – without having to conclude 50 separate contracts. The delivery volume increases dramatically, customer loyalty becomes maximal, and you position yourself as an innovative provider of modern energy solutions.

The processing is done through established processes. Platform providers for virtual balancing have had pilot projects in productive operation across Germany since 2022. The technology works, the energy economic processes are tested, and the first energy suppliers are already successfully using this opportunity.

Home Charging with Company Contract: The Win-Win Model

Home charging with a company contract creates a win-win situation for all parties involved. The company pays for the charging electricity directly without detours, the employee does not have to advance any private bills, and you as the electricity supplier tap into new withdrawal points.

The attractiveness for companies is obvious. Commercial electricity contracts are often significantly cheaper than private household rates. A company that pays 0.18 euros per kWh can use this price for home charging of its employees – instead of employees paying 0.32 euros privately and the company reimbursing through complicated flat rates.

For employees, this means comfort and transparency. They charge at home but do not have to analyze private electricity bills or submit reimbursement requests. The kWh of the company car are automatically allocated to the company contract, and the employee can transparently see how much they have charged, if desired.

For you as an electricity supplier, this opens up a huge market. Germany has several million company cars, and electrification is accelerating. Each of these vehicles needs charging electricity, and with the throughput model, you can deliver this electricity – regardless of where the employee lives or what private electricity contract they have.

The energy economic processing is transparent and compliant with regulations. The electricity quantity charged at the employee is allocated to your balancing group, you receive the corresponding remuneration from the company, and all tax and regulatory requirements are automatically fulfilled.

Throughput Model: The Energy Economic Foundation

The throughput model is the energy economic foundation for Bring Your Own Power. It enables the commercial separation of physical withdrawal points and the contractual relationship.

The principle operates through balancing groups. Every electricity supplier has a balancing group – a virtual account where all electricity withdrawals and feed-ins are recorded. In the throughput model, the electricity drawn at various physical points is allocated to your balancing group, even if the withdrawal points are not directly contractually connected to you.

The technical implementation requires precise measurement and allocation. Each charged kWh must be uniquely assigned to a customer and their contract. Blockchain technology offers the ideal solution here through immutable and forgery-proof documentation of all transactions.

The platform for virtual balancing performs multiple functions: It authenticates the consumption points, assigns them to the correct electricity supplier, measures the energy withdrawn, documents the transaction, and initiates the energy economic billing via balancing groups.

It's important to understand: Virtual balancing is not a theoretical vision but has been operational in Germany since 2022. The decarbon1ze platform has successfully implemented pilot projects with large companies, where employees charge at home using the company contract. The energy economic processes work, the regulatory requirements are clarified, and the technology is available.

Granular Green Electricity Certificates: Your Competitive Advantage

Granular green electricity certificates are a decisive competitive advantage in the throughput model. While traditional proof of origin only offers annual average values, granular certificates allow for the identification of each individual kWh directly from the producer.

The technology behind this is based on blockchain. OLI Label utilizes blockchain technology to identify each kWh directly from the producer and store this information immutably. This allows for unequivocal proof of the origin of consumption.

For you as an electricity supplier, this concretely means: You can not only sell your customers "green electricity," but provide complete proof that every charged kWh actually comes from renewable sources. This proof is immutably documented, auditable at any time, and meets the highest compliance requirements.

The relevance is further heightened by regulatory developments. Starting in 2025, 50,000+ EU companies must report in detail on sustainability (CSRD – Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). Blockchain-verified green electricity certificates make this reporting easy, whereas competitors are still working with Excel spreadsheets.

The business potential is significant. Companies are willing to pay premium prices for verifiably green electricity – especially when the certificates simplify their ESG compliance. You can position green electricity products with granular certificates as premium offerings and thus achieve higher margins than with standard tariffs.

The integration of OLI Label into the throughput model allows these granular certificates to work for employee charging or at public charging points as well. Your customer receives seamless green electricity certificates for all their consumption points – a unique offering in the market.

Virtual Balancing: Your Role in the System

As an electricity supplier, you play a central role in virtual balancing. You are the energy economic anchor through which all electricity supplies are processed – regardless of where your customers physically withdraw the electricity.

Your tasks in the system are clearly defined: You conclude electricity supply contracts with your customers, procure the required electricity volumes, report schedules to transmission system operators, and settle accounts with your customers. The peculiarity is that the physical withdrawal points do not all have to be directly connected to your grid.

The platform for virtual balancing acts as an intermediary between you, the charging point operators, and your customers. It handles the allocation of electricity volumes to your balancing group, documents all transactions, and ensures that energy economic processes run correctly.

Your remuneration occurs through established mechanisms. You supply the electricity volumes to your balancing group, and the platform ensures that the corresponding quantities are allocated to the right consumption points. Billing with your customer is based on the actually delivered volumes – transparent, traceable, and auditable.

The risks are manageable. The platform providers have many years of experience in energy economic processing and take responsibility for correct processes. Your role remains that of an electricity supplier – only now you can serve more withdrawal points of your customers.

Business Model Expansion: From Supplier to Energy Partner

The throughput model allows for a fundamental expansion of your business model. Instead of only selling electricity at the grid connection, you become your customers' holistic energy partner.

This transformation offers significant advantages. First, customer loyalty increases dramatically. A customer who provides not only their business location but also all vehicles and home charging points through you will not switch easily. The switching costs are high, and the comfort of your integrated solution is unique.

Second, your delivery volumes increase significantly. An average commercial customer consumes perhaps 50,000 kWh annually at the location. If they additionally have 20 e-vehicles with an average annual consumption of 3,000 kWh each, that adds another 60,000 kWh – doubling your delivery volume with marginal additional effort.

Third, you differentiate yourself from the competition. While traditional electricity suppliers sell interchangeable commodity products, you offer innovative complete solutions. This justifies premium prices and protects against price wars.

The transformation naturally requires adjustments. Your sales team must understand and sell the new products. Your IT systems must be integrated with platforms for virtual balancing. And your procurement must calculate the increased volumes. But these investments quickly pay off with higher margins and more stable customer relationships.

ROI Calculation: When Does the Throughput Model Pay Off?

The economic viability of the throughput model for electricity suppliers can be precisely quantified. The main factors are higher delivery volumes, better customer retention, and premium prices for innovative products.

A realistic scenario: You have 50 commercial customers with an average of 40,000 kWh annual consumption at the location. Total delivery volume is 2,000,000 kWh, with a margin of 0.03 euros per kWh corresponding to 60,000 euros annual profit.

With the throughput model, you can additionally offer employee charging and mobile electricity supply to this customer. Simulation calculations show that delivery volumes could increase by an average of 40 percent when company cars and mobile consumption are taken into account. That would correspond to an additional 800,000 kWh.

Your margin could even be slightly higher with innovative products as you deliver added value. At a conservative 0.03 euros per kWh, the additional 800,000 kWh would mean 24,000 euros in additional profit – a 40 percent increase.

The implementation costs include integration with platforms for virtual balancing and training your sales team. With estimated one-time costs of 30,000 euros and ongoing platform fees of about 0.003 euros per transmitted kWh, a calculated amortization would be achieved in significantly under two years.

The long-term effects are even more valuable. Customers using the throughput model have significantly lower switching rates, increasing the Customer Lifetime Value. The referral rate is higher since satisfied customers recommend the innovative offer. And you position yourself as a pioneer for future market developments.

Technical Integration: Interfaces to Platforms

The technical integration with platforms for virtual balancing is straightforward and uses established standards. Your existing systems must communicate with the platforms, but a complete re-implementation is not necessary.

The key interfaces concern contract data, delivery volumes, and billing. The platform needs information about your customer contracts to allocate consumption points correctly. You report the delivered electricity quantities and receive information about the transmitted quantities at various withdrawal points.

Communication occurs via standardized protocols and APIs. Modern energy management systems often already support these interfaces, so the integration mainly involves configuration rather than development.

Data security is ensured through blockchain technology. All transactions are documented immutably, manipulations are practically impossible, and you have complete transparency over all transmitted quantities at any time.

The cloud-based architecture of the platforms allows for flexible scaling. Whether you start with 10 customers or integrate 100 customers directly – the system grows with your requirements.

Legal Framework for Electricity Suppliers

The legal framework for the throughput model is clarified in Germany. The Federal Network Agency has fundamentally decided that energy users can also use their own electricity at foreign charging points.

For you as an electricity supplier, this means: You may supply your customers wherever they wish to use your electricity. The energy economic processing through virtual balancing is recognized by regulators and is already practiced by established players such as 50Hertz, LichtBlick, and Stromnetz Berlin.

The tax aspects are also clarified. In employee charging with a company contract, the electricity is directly deductible as a business expense and VAT deductible. The complex reimbursement regulations of the traditional model are eliminated.

The meter operator regulation is supported by Smart Meter rollout. Intelligent measurement systems allow for precise allocation of electricity quantities needed by the throughput model. The nationwide rollout by 2025 creates the technical foundation for widespread use.

It's important to cooperate with established platform providers who ensure regulatory compliance. They take responsibility for the correct energy economic processing and ensure that all processes meet the requirements of the Federal Network Agency and Market Master Data Register.

Selection Criteria for Platform Providers

When selecting a platform for virtual balancing, you should consider several factors. The energy economic competence is crucial – balancing group management is complex, and only experienced providers can implement it reliably.

References from established energy suppliers are important. If large municipal utilities or regional suppliers are already working with a platform, it is a good sign of reliability and compliance.

Scalability plays an important role. A solution that works for 50 customers today must also be able to manage 5,000 customers tomorrow. Cloud-based systems offer the greatest flexibility here.

The transparency of the cost structure should be guaranteed. Do you understand exactly what fees the platform charges? Are they success-based or flat? Are there hidden costs? A reputable provider openly lists all cost components.

The technological future viability deserves attention. The energy world is changing rapidly, and you should choose a partner that continuously invests in new functions – Smart Meter integration, granular green electricity certificates, dynamic tariffs.

The Turning Point Has Been Reached: Now Position Yourself

The throughput model is on the verge of a breakthrough. The regulatory foundations have been established, the technology is tested, and the first energy suppliers are successfully using the model. Electricity suppliers who act now will gain decisive competitive advantages.

Market development favors innovative providers. Companies are electrifying their fleets and looking for simple charging solutions. Employees with company cars want to charge easily at home. The demand for integrated energy solutions is growing exponentially.

The differentiation in competition is becoming increasingly important. In a market where many electricity suppliers offer interchangeable products, the throughput model creates genuine unique selling points. You provide not only electricity but also complete solutions for mobile energy use.

The transformation from traditional supplier to innovative energy partner is not a threat but an opportunity. You tap into new business fields, increase customer loyalty, and position yourself optimally for an electrified future.

The first step is an analysis of your customer base. Which customers already have e-vehicles or plan electrification? Which companies would benefit from employee charging? What would the additional delivery potential be?

The future of electricity sales is mobile, flexible, and customer-centered. Electricity suppliers who actively shape this change will be the market leaders of tomorrow. The technology is available, the regulatory hurdles have been cleared – it is up to you to seize the opportunity.