A government agency in Germany has announced a new scheme that will see power suppliers able to remotely limit home heating and electric car charging.
Germany’s Federal Network Agency, a government watchdog responsible for the regulation of electricity and gas in the country, has announced a new plan that will allow power grid operators to remotely limit the use of heat pumps and electric car chargers in Germany next winter without the user’s permission.
With the plans set to be put in place by January 2024, the measure has been described as a way of ensuring energy grid operators have the ability to artificially curb electricity demand should consumption outstrip supply.
According to a report on the new scheme penned by Die Welt, the plan has been drawn up in response to the German energy grid being put under more and more strain by an increasing number of electric car chargers and people using more ‘environmentally friendly’ but electricity-intense heat pumps in their homes.
Such an increased demand reportedly cannot be caught up to with increased supply, at least in the short term, meaning that authorities within the Federal Network Agency believe that remote consumption restrictions must be rolled out on certain devices.