Eneco first large energy company to start offering dynamic contracts

Eneco is the first of the large energy companies in the Netherlands to offer dynamic contracts. Customers pay rates based on the current hourly electricity prices and the daily gas prices. These prices can vary greatly depending on how high the energy demand is at a given time.

According to Eneco, this gives households more control over their energy costs because you can, for example, turn on your washing machine or charge an electric bicycle when the electricity price is low. And then it can also be worthwhile to consider the applicable gas price when setting your thermostat.

The dynamic contract is an expansion of the options for customers. Fixed and variable contracts will continue to exist at Eneco. The dynamic option is already available for consumers without solar panels. People who have solar panels will likely be able to take out such a contract from October. According to Eneco, this requires a few adjustments to the systems.

Eneco isn’t the first electricity supplier to respond to the highly fluctuating electricity prices, but until now, it was mainly smaller energy companies that offered dynamic contracts. Earlier this year, the Association of Dynamic Energy Suppliers (VvDE) reported that households were switching to dynamic energy contracts in increasing numbers. According to that organization, at least 300,000 households and small businesses already had a dynamic contract in February on a total of over 7 million gas connections.

Competitor Vattenfall does not currently offer dynamic contracts. The company has announced that it is researching the various forms of these contracts. “On one side of the spectrum, there is a contract where prices can differ per hour. On the other side are variable contracts where the rates change every three months. Variations between are possible, and that is what we are now investigating,” a spokesperson said.