Rigid RZ Contracts Meet the Flexible EnEfG

Anyone procuring capacity from 2027 will be negotiating against the current EnEfG (Energy Efficiency Act) and a cabinet draft that could still shift thresholds and PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) pathways. At the point of handover, the marketing brochure ends: waste heat, grid connection, and measured data decide before the contract is signed-not the glossy pages.

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The brochure ends at the transfer station

The same scene plays out at many sites across the DACH region. Behind the data centre lies the transfer station. Pipes, metering points and interfaces to the district heating network stand side by side. On the table in the adjoining meeting room are site sketches, load profiles and a presentation promising efficiency gains.

The procurement team wants hard numbers. When does the capacity go live? What PUE is set as the design target-and what is the measured operating value? Which loads feed into the meter when electricity is used to upgrade waste heat? The brochure is silent at precisely these points. That is where the contract logic begins.

At the transfer station today hangs the question of proof: who supplies heat, who measures it, who documents the exception in the PUE calculation. The cabinet draft dated 24 June 2026 proposes dropping the obligation to install a heat transfer station. The contract now being signed runs longer than the legislative process that Bundestag and Bundesrat will carry through to autumn or winter 2026.

Anyone claiming efficiency must present it before the signature-with date, measurement method and ownership.

The key date in the Energy Efficiency Act hinges on the commissioning date. Ground-breaking and contract signing do not shift the path assignment. Buying colocation, managed capacity, edge sites or hyperscaler regions also means buying the commissioning risk. The operator controls the schedule. The customer controls which assurances make it into the contract.

The tension sits exactly between these two levels. Today the stricter version applies. At the same time a cabinet draft is on the table that would relax thresholds, PUE deadlines, waste-heat obligations and reporting logic. Anyone negotiating capacity from 2027 onward is writing terms against a legal framework that can still shift. Every figure in the contract therefore needs a marker: in-force or draft (Cabinet 24.06.2026).

Complementing this, the European Commission has announced a Data-Centre Energy-Efficiency Package for Q2 2026. The Energy Efficiency Directive introduces reporting obligations and sustainability metrics for data centres. National PUE pathways and European reporting lines therefore run in parallel. For procurement this means: evidence formats must not narrow down to a single metric.

What applies from commissioning on 1 July 2026

For the buyer of capacity, the allocation of the site comes first. If the space is commissioned before July 2026, the existing paths apply. If it is commissioned on or after 1 July 2026, the applicable new-build value of at most 1.2 applies within two years. The finer details lie in measurement thresholds, exceptions, and – once the draft becomes law – in whether the site still falls within the scope of application.

Power for systems that upgrade waste heat is excluded from the PUE calculation. This may sound technical, but contractually it is delicate. Anyone who specifies PUE in the SLA needs a clear definition of which loads are included in the meter and which remain outside. Otherwise, operations risk a calculation dispute instead of a control metric.

The government draft adopted by the cabinet on 24 June 2026 keeps the new-build PUE at ≤ 1.2 and extends the achievement period to an annual average of four years. For existing sites it proposes PUE ≤ 1.6 from 1 July 2027 and PUE ≤ 1.4 from 1 July 2030. For procurement, the raising of the application threshold to 500 kW installed IT power often carries more weight: many mid-sized data centres fall outside the scope. At the same time, heat transfer stations are no longer mandatory, internal use of waste heat is recognised, and an exception for cases lacking economic feasibility is added. Reporting obligations shrink to large plants with more than 1 MW nominal total energy input; the duty to provide information to heat-network operators is removed. All of this reflects the Marker draft (Cabinet 24.06.2026).

Here the operator’s logic becomes thin as soon as it only delivers planned PUE and marketing ERF. Procurement needs the ownership question: who supplies the measured value? Who is liable if the value is missed after commissioning? Who documents waste-heat exceptions and the measurement threshold for upgrade systems? Who verifies the scope against the current and the draft threshold? Without these roles, efficiency remains a presentation veneer.

Three risks regularly surface in ongoing tenders. First, the schedule slips past the cut-off date – and with it the applicable path. Second, the contract stores only a design value while operations measure a different one. Third, waste heat appears in the prospectus while heat off-takers, transfer arrangements and measurement concept are missing from the appendix – and the draft simultaneously puts the obligation for a transfer station up for debate. Each of these risks can be addressed before signature.

Which Documentation Must Be in Place Before Signing

The first step is a documentation checklist in the tender package-before the final price discussion. CIOs and procurement demand the same set of documents for colocation, managed capacity, and on-campus expansions. The list is kept deliberately concise. It separates current law from draft provisions (Cabinet 24.06.2026).

On the table must be: assessment of the scope of application: applicable from 300 kW non-redundant electrical rated connection capacity; in the draft from 500 kW installed IT power.; planned and binding commissioning date; classification as existing or new-build path; PUE target value with marker current or draft; measurement concept including exception for power used to upgrade waste heat; handling of heat transfer and internal waste heat utilisation; role matrix for reporting and escalation chains; as well as contract mechanisms for rectification if the operational value misses the guaranteed range.

If you operate your own campus capacity, you apply the same set internally. Facilities, IT, and procurement clarify who measures the PUE and who releases waste heat interfaces. Even today, clear data handover eases data-centre operations and internal audit trails. Once the draft becomes law, the scope of application and the streamlined reporting logic for large facilities move further into focus.

Site criteria gain weight in the process. Grid connection, nearby heat off-takers, and realistic utilisation-path planning determine whether a PUE target can be sustained in operation. A site without off-takers makes waste-heat narratives fragile. A site with off-takers but no measurement concept makes them unprovable. Both gaps surface in the next review-regardless of whether the transfer station remains mandatory under the future law.

Contractually, it pays to separate assurances from outlooks. Current PUE paths can be framed as hard operational metrics. Draft figures belong in a change mechanism with a review date-as soon as the cabinet draft becomes enforceable law. This keeps the contract actionable without treating the draft as binding regulation.

The concrete first step next week: compile existing and planned capacity contracts with commissioning from 2026 in a single overview. For each site, enter commissioning date, path classification, scope assessment, and available PUE evidence. Feed any gaps back to the operator. Only then follow renegotiation or a new tender.

Efficiency without evidence is an operational risk in the EnEfG context. With date, measurement method, and ownership, it becomes a controllable contract variable. That is where the next data-centre contract will stand or fall on 1 July-and against the cabinet draft.

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Image source: AI-generated (Mai 2026)