Gebührenfähigkeit der Konzessionsabgabe im Bereich „Wasser"

A municipality may charge a water supplier a concession fee for its special use of the public roads by laying and operating pipeline grids. Although small in-house municipal undertakings (Regiebetriebe) and operations (Eigenbetriebe) account for the greatest portion of the water suppliers, a majority of supplier-customer relationships is regulated by user fees, and concession fees constitute a considerable factor within the municipal budget, the question is of dispute whether concession fees paid by an in-house municipal operation can be included in the calculation of user fees. Several higher administrative courts deny this. The author examines the underlying topic from numerous legal perspectives and challenges this case law.