- High Electricity Costs: A Growing Threat to Retail Profitability
- Running a Retail Is Getting Pricier
Between 2000 and 2025, the average electricity price for small to mid-sized commercial users in Germany has nearly tripled—rising from €0.085/kWh to €0.2275/kWh. In 2025, the average electricity rates vary from €0.185/kWh in eastern states to over €0.245/kWh in industrial regions like Bavaria or North Rhine-Westphalia.
- Up to 40% of Net Profits Lost to Electricity Bills
Electricity Cost Snapshot of Retail Business
Retail business are normally energy-intensive facilities due to several key operational demand like refrigeration systems, heating, ventilation, and air condition etc. This high electricity consumption translates into significant operating costs, making a key concern for retail operators.
| Facility Type | Annual Usage | Electricity Rate | Annual Cost (€) |
| Mid-size supermarket | 500,000 kWh | €0.23/kWh | €115,000 |
| Medium shopping center | 1,000,000 kWh | €0.23/kWh | €230,000 |
Electricity can represent 1%–3% of total revenue, depending on margins and property size. In supermarkets with tight net margins of 2–3%, electricity can consume over 30–40% of net profits.
2. Reclaim Your Profit Margin—Cut Energy Bills in Half
Faced with rising power costs and shrinking margins, German retailers are under pressure. PV system provides an immediate way to reduce energy expenses—replacing costly grid power with low-cost rooftop generation.
We consider a retail facility with an annual electricity consumption of 500,000 kWh, purchasing grid electricity at a market rate of €0.23 per kilowatt-hour.
Without any solar installation, the annual electricity bill would be
500,000 kWh × €0.23/kWh = €115,000
To reduce electricity costs, a 350 kW PV system is installed on the rooftop of the retail facility. According to national averages in Germany, each 1 kW of installed PV capacity generates about 1,000 kWh of electricity per year. The PV system is expected to generate the following amount of electricity annually:
350 kW × 1,000 kWh/kW = 350,000 kWh
This generation allows the facility to reduce the amount of electricity purchased from the grid to
500,000 kWh – 350,000 kWh = 150,000 kWh
With the PV system in place, the facility electricity cost becomes:
150,000 kWh × €0.23 = €34,500
The facility can expect to reduce its electricity expenses by:
€115,000 – €34,500 = €80,500 (~70%)
With the average price of €0.70/Wp, the 350kW PV system cost is calculated by
350,000 W × €0.70 = €245,000
The payback period, representing the time needed to recover the investment through energy savings, is:
€245,000 ÷ €80,500 = 3.04 years
The 30-year lifetime benefits return on investment (ROI) is calculated as:
((€80,500 × 30) – €245,000) ÷ €245,000 × 100% = 885.7%
| Scenario | Without PV | With PV |
| Annual Electricity Cost | €115,000 | €34,500 |
| Annual Electricity Savings | — | €80,500 |
| PV System Investment | — | €245,000 |
| 30-yrs Total Energy Cost | €3, 450,000 | €1, 280,000 |
| Cost Reduction | — | –62% |
3. Why Go Further with AIKO ABC Modules?
AIKO ABC (All-Back Contact) high-efficiency modules build upon the base PV benefits by delivering more energy from the same rooftop—and holding performance more consistently over time.
Here lists the annual yield gain due to ABC features:
| ABC Key Feature | Technical Advantage Description | Yield Gain |
| Higher Efficiency | 5.5% more capacity installed on same rooftop area | +5.5% |
| Shading Resistance | +30% more production under shading scenarios | +2.0% |
| Low Temp Coefficient | Better output in summer conditions (–0.26%/°C vs –0.29%/°C) | +0.36% |
| Low Degradation Rate | Slower performance decline (0.35% vs 0.4%) | +0.26% |
| Sum of Production Improvement Gain | ~8.12% | |
To further improve performance of previous example, AIKO ABC modules are used to replace the previous regular solar modules. With ABC Module, the PV system could generate 8.12% extra on the same roof annually:
350,000 kWh x 1.0812 =378,420 kWh (+28,420kWh extra production)
The electricity cost will be further reduced to
(500,000 kWh – 378,420 kWh) × €0.23 = €27,964
The facility can expect to reduce its electricity expenses by:
€115,000 – €27,964 = €87,036 (~76%)
To understand the practical impact of rooftop PV systems in the retail sector, we compare three scenarios side-by-side, Without PV, With Traditional PV and With AIKO ABC.
| Scenario | Without PV | With Traditional PV | With AIKO ABC |
| Annual Electricity Cost | €115,000 | €34,500 | €27,964 |
| Annual Electricity Savings | — | €80,500 | €87,036 |
| PV System Investment | — | €245,000 | €250,524 |
| 30-yrs Total Energy Cost | €3, 450,000 | €1, 280,000 | 1,089,444 |
| Cost Reduction | — | –62% | ~68% |
| Metric | With Traditional PV | With AIKO ABC |
| Payback Period (years) | ~3.04 | ~2.88 |
| 30-Year ROI (%) | ~885.7% | ~941.3% |
| Lifetime Net Savings (€) | €2,170,000 | €2,611,557 |
| Net Gain over Traditional | — | €441,557 |