Slash your energy bill: 11 companies offer rates below price cap

The Dutch government has implemented a price cap on energy this year. About 6 million households have benefited from the measure so far, costing the national treasury nearly 1 billion euros in January.

Surprisingly, new information by price analyst Energievergelijk.nl suggests that the cap may become irrelevant. According to their latest data, 11 energy providers are now offering prices below the national price rate cap.

This raises the questions, Who are these providers and, What could it mean for your energy bill?

Nine dynamic contracts

Among the 11 energy providers, nine of them work with dynamic tariffs, where the final consumer price is based on the real-time wholesale market rates for gas and electricity. In these contracts, electricity prices can change hourly, and gas prices can change daily.

Some examples of dynamic companies include: NextEnergy, Frank Energie, EasyEnergy, ANWB Energie, Tibber and Zonneplan.

You can review and compare them in English here.

So, how much cheaper are they really?

In January, the average all-in dynamic tariff for electricity was around 35 cents, including taxes. That’s a 5 cent difference against the price cap. The consumer gas price was 5 to 10 euro cents per cubic meter lower than the price cap.

Therefore, assuming a constant rate, switching to a dynamic energy provider could save an average household 16 to 25 euro per month on their energy bill.

Just be cautious with dynamic energy contracts, as electricity prices can fluctuate every hour of the day, depending on supply and demand. For instance, on summer days the prices are frequently lower due to the generation of solar energy. While during peak hours prices go up, because people are at home and energy consumption increases.

Variable rate energy contracts with fixed terms

If fluctuating energy prices are not your cup of tea, you may instead want to opt for a variable contract that has fixed tariffs for a month or longer.

Two providers are now offering variable rates below the energy price cap.

These are:

Budget Energie

• € 0.390 per kWh electricity
• € 1.391 per m3 gas

Coolblue Energie:

• € 0.393 per kWh electricity
• € 1.412 per m3 gas

Switching to one of these contracts will save you around 17 euro per month, with average energy consumption levels.

In case you are interested, both providers (and many others) can be found on this English comparison site.