You have read or heard somewhere that rules exist on passing through energy costs to guests, and you are wondering whether they apply to you. The short answer: it does not depend on how prominently your name appears on Booking, but on a few concrete characteristics. How many properties or units you rent out, whether you do so as a business with a Chamber of Commerce registration or as a private individual who occasionally rents out a room, and whether your guest uses electricity via a connection that is measured separately from the rest.
These characteristics together determine whether, and which, rules apply to your situation. There is no separate list stating "from this many properties onwards you are included" that we can safely reproduce here, because that varies by regulation and by country, and the precise explanation belongs with a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority. What we can do is explain where the key point lies on which the answer hinges.
What it comes down to
Most rules on passing through energy costs are written with a principle in mind: someone who supplies or resells electricity to another person must do so fairly and measurably. An ordinary rental apartment where the tenant has lived for years is different from a vacation cottage where a guest stays for three nights. Yet parts of the same regulations can apply to both, precisely because it is not about the type of stay, but about the fact that electricity is being passed through to someone who does not obtain it directly from the energy supplier themselves.
That is why the first question is not "am I a rental business", but "do I pass through electricity costs to someone else, and how do I measure that". Someone who incorporates that via a fixed amount in the rental price is in a different situation than someone who passes through the actual consumption per kWh. search the knowledge base for your own situation provides for each topic the short answer and the location in the official text, so that you can see for yourself which part of the regulations applies to what you do.
One property, rented out occasionally
If you occasionally rent out a room or a second property, without this being your main source of income, the question often arises whether you are considered a private individual or a business. This distinction is not based on how you describe yourself, but on how often and how commercially you rent out. For the question of whether you are permitted to pass through energy costs and how, this distinction sometimes matters and sometimes does not. An accountant or the tax authority can usually clarify whether your rental activity counts as a business; for the energy side itself, the national energy regulator is the point of contact.
A small business with a few properties
If you have a bed and breakfast, a few chalets or a handful of vacation apartments under a Chamber of Commerce registration, then for regulatory purposes you are a business that passes through energy costs to third parties, regardless of how small that business is. This does not automatically mean that heavier obligations apply than for a private individual, but it does mean that you are more likely to come to the attention of a supervisory authority if something goes wrong, for example a guest complaint about unclear billing. Especially for small businesses, it is worthwhile to clarify in advance how you measure and bill, so that you can demonstrate that if needed.
Vacation parks and multiple units on one connection
At holiday parks and larger complexes, the situation is slightly different, because a single main connection often feeds the entire park and the operator distributes the electricity internally across the chalets or caravans. That internal distribution of measured consumption is precisely the point where submetering, or measuring separately per unit within one larger whole, becomes relevant. Whether and how strictly this is regulated varies by country and by type of connection, and that is precisely why there is no general rule of thumb that gives the same answer for every park. For recreation parks that work with a reservation system and a final settlement, it is worth addressing this question separately with your own regulator or legal advisor, regardless of how the measurement is technically set up in the meter cabinet. If you would like an indication first, then the decision tool with a few short questions provides an initial direction before you have that conversation.
What if you are unsure
If you are unsure whether your situation falls under a regulation, that in itself is already a useful signal: it means that the characteristics mentioned above do not unambiguously point you in one direction. In that case, it is more sensible to put the question concretely to a legal advisor or the competent regulator than to make an assumption based on a general article. Staywatt is not an energy supplier in this regard and makes no statement about what you may or may not pass on costs for in your specific situation; the platform measures and processes the payment, the legal assessment remains with you and your advisor.
Where you can check it yourself
If you want to know where certain explanations come from before you rely on them, that is explained on the page that shows where our information comes from. That way you do not have to take our word for it, but can review the source yourself.
Do you have half an hour and want to know if your situation deserves more attention than you thought? Do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the frequently asked questions about passing on electricity costs to see which question comes closest to your own situation.