The energy transition is paying off: more green electricity in the grid means more and more relief for household budgets

Munich, 8 August 2024: New data from tado°, the leading provider of energy management solutions, shows that more and more hours with negative electricity prices are significantly easing the burden on household budgets. In the first half of 2024, the European Energy Exchange registered a new record of 226 hours. This mainly benefited households that have a dynamic electricity tariff with hourly billing and can flexibly shift their electricity consumption. When using electricity during the ten cheapest hours of the day, they paid up to 34 percent less for their electricity during this period compared to the average exchange price. In 2023, this figure was 21 percent for the first six months. Since 2022, the potential savings on electricity bills have even doubled. Two years ago, it was just 17 per cent. The reason for this is the share of renewable energy in the electricity grid, which reached a new high of 58 per cent in Germany and 50 percent in Europe in the first half of 2024. If a large amount of wind and solar energy is available, the energy price on the European Power Exchange is particularly low or even negative if there is a surplus. Customers are then remunerated for charging their electric car or operating their heat pump.

"The energy transition is paying off for consumers. The share of renewable energy in the electricity grid will continue to rise, and with it the fluctuations in electricity prices. That's good news for households. It means that electricity bills can be cut even further," explains Simon Schmitz, founder of aWATTar and responsible for the Energy division at tado°. "All that households need to benefit from the energy transition is a dynamic electricity tariff and energy management solutions that shift the consumption of heat pumps, electric cars or washing machines and the like to times when electricity is at its cheapest."

With dynamic tariffs such as the tado° HOURLY tariff, end customers can benefit directly from price fluctuations on the electricity exchange. Instead of paying an average electricity price to their energy supplier, they are billed for their electricity on an hourly basis. Thanks to hourly price information for the following day, consumers can use the energy management solutions from tado° to plan in advance when and at what price the heat pump fills its buffer storage tank or the electric car charges at the wallbox - automatically and according to their individual comfort requirements. This intelligent control system can also be used to avoid price peaks so that customers can significantly reduce their overall annual energy costs compared to a fixed tariff and at the same time help to ensure that less green electricity from wind and solar power plants remains unused. 

Press Material

High-resolution images found here.