Current price
Looking for customers urgently: Strom 2024 more frequent ramschware
On windy and sunny days with little consumption, the electricity price can rush into the basement. Then even money is even paid on the stock exchange. Can consumers benefit from it?
Electricity has been frequently trapped on the stock exchange in oversupply phases on the German market last year. In 2024 there were 459 hours with a negative price on the so-called Day-AHEAD Markt. There, electricity for the next day is traded in wholesale. In the previous year it was 301 hours, in 2022 only 69, as the European electricity exchange EPEX Spot – a daughter of the EEX in Leipzig – announced on DPA request. But there were also clear price outlets. “The volatility on the electricity market has increased,” said Epex spokeswoman Maria Schubotz.
Negative electricity prices arise when high supply meets low demand – for example in strong winds on public holidays. Then buyers get money on the stock exchange if they take off electricity at short notice. In 2024 the highest negative value was -135.45 euros per megawatt hour. Seen in the year, times with a negative electricity price made about five percent.
Short -term price fluctuations are increasing
There were significantly stronger rashes on the stock exchange in the other direction. 379 times the stock market price exceeded the mark of 150 euros, 21 times it was even over 500 euros. This corresponds to a share of 4 or 0.2 percent, it said.
“In the course of the renovation of the energy supply, short -term price fluctuations are increasing,” said Schubotz. Overall, the electricity price on the Day-AHEAD Markt for Germany has recently dropped in 2024. The average was 79.57 euros. The stock market price was more than twice as high as in 2019 and 2020, but was below the prices from 2021 to 2023. 2022 as a result of the energy price crisis due to the Russian attack war on Ukraine, even an average of 235.45 euros.
Dynamic tariffs coupled to the stock market power price
Electricity prices on the stock exchange are wholesale prices. As a rule, consumers have agreed fixed prices for the year with their energy supplier, which primarily procure their electricity through long -term contracts. The end customer price also contains further taxes and levies. However, electricity suppliers have also had to offer dynamic electricity tariffs since the beginning of the year that are linked to the short -term stock exchange current price. The prerequisite are intelligent electricity meters that transmit current consumption data.
According to experts, this offers opportunities and risks. Consumers can save money if they load their electric car or wash the laundry when the electricity is cheap. However, they also carry the risk of so-called dark downs when wind power and solar systems hardly deliver and the price on the stock exchange ruses.
At Enviam, for example, the largest energy supplier in East Germany, has been the dynamic tariff for around a year. The number of customers is “in the middle three -digit range,” said spokeswoman Cornelia Sommerfeld – with around one million electricity customers in total. In 2024, the average consumption price in this tariff was around 26 cents per kilowatt hour.
Fluctuating electricity price offers incentives for investments
Spar potential in particular would have customers who could react to fluctuating electricity prices, explained Sommerfeld. For example, when energy -intensive work is shifted in times with a low electricity price and unnecessary devices are specifically switched off at high prices. “The product is particularly suitable for customers with high consumption that can flexibly control their electricity consumption, for example with smart home technologies.”
“The electricity system is in conversion,” said Schubotz. This is reflected in the fluctuations on the stock exchange, which is like a kind of thermometer for supply and demand. An important key to more price stability is greater flexibility on the side of the electricity consumers. There is still a lot of potential here that can be exploited. Dynamic electricity tariffs created incentives for this, says Schubotz. At the same time, the price fluctuations are also incentive for investments, for example in electricity storage.
dpa
Source: Stern
