Unexpected electricity charge shocks business owner as bill rises by €2,000

A Lithuanian industrial business owner expected solar power to reduce production costs. Instead, a newly noticed contract charge added about €2,000 to the company's bill.

The fee is listed as 2.9 cents per kilowatt-hour before VAT for production imbalance management. The company found it on an independent supplier's invoice for June 2026, covering about 68,500 kWh. The calculation produces a charge of roughly €2,000 before VAT.

The owner, identified by Delfi as Leonas, said staff had not noticed the contract clause. He had expected discussions over compensation for stored electricity, but found an additional charge instead. "We planned to have cheaper electricity because we consume a lot of it, and to optimize our production a little, which would lower our costs. But now there are another three cents on top. It is absurd. Our expenses increased by 2,000 euros," he said.

“

We planned to have cheaper electricity because we consume a lot of it, and to optimize our production a little, which would lower our costs. But now there are another three cents on top. It is absurd. Our expenses increased by 2,000 euros.

Leonas linked the fee to the system for compensating stored electricity. He argued that the charge amounted to paying for nothing, while also saying the company already pays a separate fee for electricity storage. He described the business environment as increasingly difficult, citing diesel and electricity prices and competition from Ukrainian wood products.

Ignitis told Delfi that compensation for stored energy and the production imbalance management fee are separate matters. Haroldas Nausėda, head of the company's business customers and development service, said the fee covers the cost of balancing the system when a solar plant's actual output differs from its forecast. He said such costs affect all customers.

“

Compensation concerns the value of the customer's stored and unused electricity, while the production imbalance management fee concerns production balancing costs. Therefore, the payment of compensation and the application of this fee are not directly related.