The dynamic structure factor S(q, &>) of electrons in lithium-intercalated graphite (LiC 6 ) and potassium-intercalated graphite (KC 8 ) for momentum transfer q || c-axis has been measured by inelastic synchrotron X-ray scattering. The dielectric function s{q, a>) was deduced from the data and compared with e(q, co) of pristine graphite.The main feature in the different Im [e(q, tt>)]-spectra, a more or less intense peak around 14 eV, can be assigned to maxima of the symmetry-projected joint density of occupied and unoccupied electron states near the Fermi level. Knowing the position of the occupied bands by photoemission experiments, predictions about the unoccupied n and interlayer states can be made.In the case of LiC 6 , a shift and broadening of the first Im [e(q, a>)]-peak was found, which can be explained by a decrease of the energy of the interlayer-band because of the strong hybridization of this graphite-derived band with the Li metal 2s-band.In the case of KC 8 , a weakening of the first peak of Im [e(q, co)] was observed, which we attribute both to a decreasing overlap of the occupied 7t-derived state with the empty interlayer state and to a change of symmetry of the occupied er-derived states as well as of the empty rc-derived states.