Prozessleitfaden — PRICAT

PRICAT: Wie Preiskataloge funktionieren

Bevor Sie eine Rechnung senden können, muss der Empfänger Ihre Preise kennen. PRICAT ist die EDIFACT-Nachricht, die Preislisten zwischen Marktteilnehmern veröffentlicht.

PRICATINVOIC validationValidity datesNet pricesPer-meter-type feesMSB → NB

Was ist PRICAT?

The price list that makes billing possible

PRICAT stands for Price Catalogue. It is the EDIFACT message an MSB uses to tell every NB they work with: “here are my prices, and they are valid from date X.” Without a current PRICAT, the NB cannot automatically verify the MSB's invoices — everything would have to be done manually.

Validity Dates Are Critical

Every PRICAT has a valid_from date. On that date, the new prices become active. Old prices stay valid for invoices covering periods before that date. One wrong date = months of billing disputes.

Always Net Prices

PRICAT prices are always net (excl. 19% VAT). The NB adds VAT when booking costs internally. The INVOIC also states net amounts, with VAT added separately for the final total.

Per-Meter-Type Pricing

Standard Ferraris meters, electronic meters (eHZ), and smart meters (iMSys) all have different prices. Each meter type gets its own line items in the PRICAT.

Most Recent PRICAT Wins

If an MSB sends two PRICATs with overlapping dates, the most recently sent catalogue wins. There is no "withdrawal" mechanism — just replace with a new PRICAT with correct dates.

One PRICAT Per MSB

Each MSB sends their own PRICAT to each NB they operate in. A large MSB active in 50 grid areas sends their PRICAT to all 50 NBs. Each NB stores it independently.

Enables Automated Invoice Validation

The NB's billing system automatically compares each incoming INVOIC line against the current PRICAT. This is only possible because PRICAT is structured EDIFACT — not a PDF.

Beispiel-Preiskatalog

This is what a PRICAT looks like when decoded into human-readable form. Click any row to see the detailed breakdown.

Sample PRICAT: MSB Leitnetz AG

Valid from 2026-01-01 · Net prices (excl. VAT) · Click a row to see the detail

All prices net. Add 19% VAT for gross amounts. This catalogue supersedes all previous catalogues effective 2026-01-01.

Der PRICAT-Lebenszyklus

From the MSB creating a new price list to the NB using it to automatically validate invoices.

PRICAT Lifecycle (6 steps)

Klicken Sie auf einen Schritt oder drücken Sie Abspielen

PRICAT 27001–27003: the specification numbers

The PRICAT messages used by MSBs are defined in BNetzA specifications 27001 (base catalogue), 27002 (amendments), and 27003 (withdrawals). These are part of the same specification series as INVOIC (31001–31011) and MSCONS.

Wie leitnetz hilft

PRICAT Management Without Spreadsheets

PRICAT Generation & Dispatch

Fill in your price table in leitnetz's UI. We generate the PRICAT EDIFACT, validate it against spec 27001, and dispatch it to all relevant NBs.

Validity Date Management

leitnetz tracks which PRICAT version is active for each MSB–NB pair. When a new PRICAT arrives, old prices are archived with their validity end date.

Automatic Invoice Validation

When an INVOIC arrives, leitnetz automatically looks up the PRICAT valid for that billing period and flags any price mismatches for review.

Vorheriger Leitfaden

Billing (B2B)

B2B invoicing between MSB, NB, and LF

Nächster Leitfaden

ESA

Energy service providers and meter data access