From today, the stream in your socket is cheap enough - because high tariffs drop
DR-Inland in Denmark
Tuesday, April 01, 2025 • 2:39 PM UTC - in Denmark
When you wake up in the morning and turn on the kettle or start baking bread, there is already cheaper electricity in the contact compared to yesterday.
At least the so-called summer tariffs have been activated by the Danish electricity suppliers, which distribute electricity in the country.
When you pay for electricity, you also pay for its transportation, and this part of the electricity price is generally more expensive in the fall and winter compared to now.
- The next half year will run with prices that are significantly lower, says Tue Patursson, who is an expert in energy and building technology at Videncentret Bolius.
- We generally have a peak load from 17-21, especially in the winter when there are really high prices - a really high tariff - but during the summer, the price is especially lowered significantly in this time period.
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Transport of electricity
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The transportation tariff - or net tariff - is the network company's payment for delivering electricity to consumers.
The fee varies over the day's hours, and it is more expensive in the winter half-year than in the summer half-year.
In the current tariff model, the day is divided into three periods:
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Low load: From 00.00-06.00
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High load: From 06.00-17.00 and 21.00-00.00
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Peak load: From 17.00-21.00
The net tariff is highest in the time period 17-21, during which the winter tariff is in effect from October to the end of March. In the summer half-year, the highest net tariff is in the same time period, but is about half as high as in the winter half-year.
The tariff covers costs for operation and maintenance of the electricity network.
The amount you can save over the summer half-year depends on your consumption and your electricity supplier.
According to the expert, a family with two adults and two children uses an average of 4,500 kilowatt-hours in half a year.
If we assume that the average family also distributes its electricity consumption evenly throughout the day, the family will save about 525 kroner in the period if they are customers of Radius, which supplies electricity mainly to North Zealand and the capital region.
If the family is a customer of N1, which supplies electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers in the northern and central Jutland region, the same family - due to the lower prices in the western part of the country - will save about 373 kroner.
Scaling up the simplified calculation can result in a billion savings nationwide according to Tue Patursson.
- It's a number with a lot of uncertainty, but roughly speaking, many savings can be made with the summer tariff, he says.
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Higher rates affect behavior
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The reason for switching to summer tariffs is that with better weather comes different consumption patterns.
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Who supplies my electricity?
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There are many electricity suppliers, and if you want to go into depth about what you can save over the summer, start by finding your electricity supplier here ( https://elnet.dk/nettilslutning/find-netselskab ).
In the cold and dark winter, more heat and light are used, and tariffs on electricity transportation push a little extra to the consumers' desire to spread electricity consumption throughout the day and night. In this way, the electricity network is used as efficiently as possible.
- We try to get people to spread consumption, because in the winter we use electricity very much at the same time, which stresses the system and increases demand for electricity, says Tue Patursson.
In the summer half-year, people behave differently, and so there is no longer a need for the more expensive tariff.
- In the summer we have more sun and can use energy in a different way, because we use less for heating and lighting, he says.
- Therefore, we can lower the prices (on tariffs) and say: Now you don't have to be so attentive to how electricity consumption is during the day.
© Ritzau Scanpix
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How electricity prices are composed
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Even though the summer tariff can make electricity cheaper, the total electricity price is composed of many parts.
The total electricity price is made up of the price of raw electricity, fees to the network company and Energinet, an electricity fee, and VAT on the entire amount.
A summer tariff does not make electricity cheaper in itself.
He points out that even though the tariff is lower, it is still worth thinking about electricity consumption, because the price is also determined by other things.
- Tariffs are one thing, but something else is the actual electricity price. Keep an eye on it when it is generally low, because on a day like today with sunshine and wind, the price will be very cheap in the middle of the day, while it is often at night that it is cheapest in the winter.
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Green electricity is cheap electricity
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It is generally positive for the use of the cheaper green energy that people use electricity more evenly distributed throughout the day, says Tue Patursson.
In this way, the green electricity is sufficient, and it has been a factor in lowering electricity prices.
- Generally, electricity becomes cheaper, he says firmly.
- But we have these swings, where we for example in December talked about blackouts ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/2024-har-haft-de-laveste-elpriser-i-fire-aar ). There was no wind and no sun, and suddenly we had the highest prices since the energy crisis in a few days.
Read also: Electricity prices are at their highest since the energy crisis in 2022 ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/elprisen-er-paa-sit-hoejeste-siden-energikrisen-i-2022 )
There was a lot of noise when the price of electricity suddenly rose in December ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/elprisen-er-paa-sit-hoejeste-siden-energikrisen-i-2022 ) , where Denmark was forced to import expensive electricity from abroad or use expensive coal, oil, or gas. Critics pointed out that there were no other energy sources than the green ones.
The expert acknowledges that there are swings, but he also points out that it is the green transition that has driven electricity prices in a cheaper direction.
- When we have set up solar panels and wind turbines, we will pay relatively little to have them running, while we get a lot of energy thrown out into the electricity network, he says.
- The alternative was to have a power plant to throw coal, natural gas, and oil into the machine, which we have to buy, run through a large power plant, and send around.
Read more about the - overall - low prices on electricity here:
2024 has had the lowest electricity prices in four years ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/2024-har-haft-de-laveste-elpriser-i-fire-aar )
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.