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"From the roof to the socket" - that is multi tenant self consumption. On the roof of a multi tenant building or commercial property, a photovoltaic system (hereafter: PV system) converts sunlight into cheap electricity and delivers it to the tenants on site. The trick is that the landlord does not suddenly have to transform himself into a licensed energy supplier liable for business tax, but simply engages third parties to take on the role of energy supplier. If the sun does not shine, they supply residual electricity from the grid.

Following the introduction of the subsidy law of the same name in mid-2017, the term mutli tenant self consumption (in German: "Mieterstrom") has become increasingly popular. However, it is not self-explanatory. Multi tenant self consumption means: electricity is generated on site in multi tenant buildings by means of photovoltaic systems or combined heat and power units and is largely consumed directly by the end users of the property. The end users can be both private households and companies.

Around 70% of the total of 18 million residential buildings in Germany were built before 1979, i.e. at a time when there were no or extremely low energy efficiency requirements. According to a study by the Institute for Living and the Environment, 25-30% of these existing buildings have been modernized. As a result, nearly 9 million residential properties in Germany have not yet been upgraded, or have been upgraded only slightly in terms of energy efficiency.

In the future, smart meters will be irreplaceable as an essential component of the energy system transition, enabling electricity generation and consumption to be coordinated in the best possible way through greater transparency in the power grid and offering end customers transparency about their consumption and other value-added services. This is how it was intended in the law on the digitization of the energy system transition; installation of the electricity meters referred to as "smart metering systems (iMSys)" in the wording of the law was to begin in 2017. It took more than three years of delay before the BSI (German Federal Office for Information Security) gave the go-ahead in February 2020 and the smart meter rollout began slowly and sluggishly. Now, for the time being, it is already over again: The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia suspended the corresponding general order of the BSI by emergency order on March 4, 2021.