Energy companies making more households sign variable rate contracts

The number of Netherlands households with a variable energy rate increased from 50 to 56 percent in the past months. According to the Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), energy companies largely stopped giving fixed-rate contracts due to the strongly fluctuating prices and unrest in the energy market.

The number of energy contracts with a variable rate increased by approximately 400,000 in the past six months. Households whose fixed-rate contracts - which charge the same rate for 1, 3, or 5 years - ended could only get a variable-rate contract from their supplier.

The unrest in the energy market makes it more expensive and riskier for energy suppliers to fix their rates for longer periods, the ACM said. “Energy suppliers, therefore, opt to only offer contracts with a variable rate.”

The ACM stressed that it must always be possible for consumers to at least conclude a contract with variable rates with energy suppliers. These contracts and their rates must be visible on the suppliers’ websites.