Those who now conclude a new energy contract will spend almost 3,500 euros on gas and light on an annual basis. That is more than half less than last summer, when both gas and electricity prices peaked. Yet such a new contract is still 30 to 40 percent more expensive than before the war in Ukraine. This is evident from figures from comparison site Gaslicht.com, which NU.nl has requested.
Anyone who had to conclude a new energy contract last summer paid the absolute top price for it. Where for years we paid an average of regarding 2,500 euros per year for gas and electricity, the price rose to at least 8,500 euros in September. “We’ve been tracking prices since 2003. We really had never experienced this before,” says Gaslicht.com founder Ben Woldring.
That picture has since become more favourable. While we still saw prices of 4 to 5 euros per cubic meter of gas in the summer, there are now contracts once more with rates just above the euro. The same applies to the electricity tariff: following a peak in September, electricity prices are now many times lower.
Due to the lower prices for gas and electricity, you now pay regarding 3,500 euros on an annual basis when concluding a new contract. Woldring calls the contrast with last summer “a world of difference”.
Yet such a contract is still 1,000 euros more expensive than in the years before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Historically we paid regarding 20 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, now we see rates of around 40 cents,” says the Gaslicht.com founder.
There are no contracts at all
The prices of energy contracts are not only falling, there are also contracts to choose from once more. Shortly following Russia invaded Ukraine, many energy companies withdrew their contracts because of the uncertainty. “Then it was insanely difficult to find a contract at all. Then you had to call and you were often on hold for a long time,” says Woldring.
In recent months, that has changed. The biggest turmoil is behind us and prices have stabilized, so energy contracts are once once more offered online and on comparison sites. This concerns variable contracts or permanent contracts with a maximum term of one year.
Woldring expects contracts of two, three or even five years to come into play once more in the course of the year. “ACM is in the process of changing the rules regarding (multi)annual contracts. ACM expects those longer contracts to be available once more from April. That is good news for consumers: they can therefore protect themselves for the longer term.”
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