Tenant Electricity Model (Shared Generation Plant)

A rooftop PV system supplies tenants directly with low-cost solar power, bypassing the public grid — tenants pay a reduced tariff, the landlord earns stable returns.

How does an on-site PV supply model for tenants work?

With on-site PV supply to tenants (tenant electricity), a PV system on the roof of a multi-family building supplies the apartments directly via the building's internal network, without passing through the public grid. The legal basis in Austria is the joint generation facility (GEA, "gemeinschaftliche Erzeugungsanlage") under section 16a of ElWOG (Austria's Electricity Industry and Organisation Act). The smart meters of all participating apartments provide quarter-hourly readings; the grid operator allocates the PV generation to the apartments according to a defined allocation key, statically by fixed shares or dynamically by actual consumption. The locally consumed solar electricity is free of grid charges and levies for the tenants; the landlord or an operator bills it at a tenant electricity tariff that is typically 10 to 15 % below the grid tariff. Tenants continue to buy their residual electricity from their freely chosen supplier. Specialised metering and billing service providers handle the billing.

Which buildings benefit from on-site PV supply to tenants?

The prerequisites are a landlord-tenant constellation, a PV system of around 10 kWp or more, the smart meter roll-out for all dwellings and registration as a GEA with the grid operator under the E-Control requirements. Typical properties are new builds and refurbished multi-family houses owned by housing developers, but commercial tenants on the ground floor can also participate. For owner-occupied apartments with separate supply contracts, a resolution of the owners' association is required, otherwise the model is ruled out. For the housing industry, tenant electricity is a unique selling point, an ESG metric and a tool for tenant retention.

What does on-site PV supply to tenants actually deliver?

Participating apartments reduce the CO2 footprint of their electricity by 40 to 70 %. In the standard case, tenants pay €0.16 instead of €0.22/kWh, and landlords receive €0.16/kWh instead of around €0.07/kWh feed-in tariff. For a multi-family building with 24 dwellings and 30 kWp of PV, the tenants together save around €1,100/a, and the landlord achieves roughly €820/a of additional revenue compared with pure feed-in. The metering and billing set-up costs €300 to €800 one-off per dwelling plus €50 to €150/a for the service provider, in addition to the usual PV costs. Payback is 10 to 15 years, with a service life of 25 years.

Energy carrier

Strom Netzbezug → Strom PV (gemeinschaftlich)

Savings potential

40-70 % CO2 für teilnehmende Wohnungen

Worked example

A housing developer installs a 30 kWp PV system on a multi-family building with 24 dwellings, generating 31,500 kWh/a. As a joint generation facility, 60 % of this, i.e. 18,900 kWh, is consumed directly in the apartments; the rest is exported. Tenants pay €0.16/kWh for the solar electricity instead of €0.22/kWh from the external supplier and together save 18,900 × (0.22 − 0.16) = €1,134/a. The landlord receives 18,900 × 0.16 = €3,024/a for the locally consumed electricity. Had the entire generation been exported at the feed-in tariff of €0.07/kWh, it would only have been 31,500 × 0.07 = €2,205. The additional revenue is therefore €819/a. As a result, tenants benefit by around €1,100/a and the landlord by roughly €820/a, plus the ESG metric and tenant retention.

Investment & payback

Mess-/Abrechnungssetup: 300-800 € einmalig pro WE + 50-150 €/a Dienstleister; PV-Standard-Kosten · Service life: 25 a · Payback: 10-15 a

Applicability

Requirements

Exclusion criteria

Typical buildings

Frequently asked questions

What is a joint generation facility (GEA)?

A joint generation facility under section 16a of ElWOG is a PV system on a multi-occupancy building whose electricity is distributed directly via the building's internal network to several apartments or commercial units without using the public grid. The grid operator allocates the generation via quarter-hourly smart meter readings according to an allocation key. Grid charges and levies do not apply to the locally consumed electricity. It is the Austrian form of tenant electricity.

How much do tenants save with on-site PV supply?

Tenants typically pay 10 to 15 % less for solar electricity from the roof than from the external supplier, in the standard case €0.16 instead of €0.22/kWh, i.e. 5 to 10 ct/kWh less. For a building with 24 apartments and 30 kWp of PV, this adds up to around €1,100/a for all tenants. At the same time, the CO2 footprint of participating apartments' electricity consumption falls by 40 to 70 %.

Is tenant electricity worth it for the landlord?

Yes, because the locally consumed electricity is billed at the tenant electricity tariff of around €0.16/kWh instead of the feed-in tariff of around €0.07/kWh. With 18,900 kWh/a of local consumption, this yields around €820/a of additional revenue compared with pure feed-in. On top come the ESG metric, marketing advantage and tenant retention. Payback including billing effort is 10 to 15 years.

How much does implementing tenant electricity cost per apartment?

The metering and billing set-up costs a one-off €300 to €800 per dwelling, plus €50 to €150 per dwelling per year for the billing service provider. The usual costs of the PV system come on top. Smart meters in all apartments, installed by the grid operator as part of the roll-out, are a prerequisite. The service life of the system is 25 years.

What is the difference between tenant electricity (GEA) and an energy community?

A joint generation facility (GEA) operates within a single building via its internal network and requires no association to be founded; grid charges are waived entirely for the locally used electricity. A renewable energy community (EEG) connects several buildings via the public grid, requires a legal form and receives reduced but not waived grid charges. The two can be combined: the GEA surplus can be contributed to an EEG.

Related measures

Standards & sources

Metering points in the EDM Toolbox

Submetering pro WE mit eigenem PV-Anteil ist DER Use-Case: 15-Min-Smart-Meter-Daten + Verteilungsschlüssel + revisionssichere Mieter-Abrechnung. EDM Toolbox vorprädestiniert (Multi-Tenant, mobile App für Mieter-Self-Service).

All measures