Little is certain in these times, except maybe one thing: the gas discount will increase. But while tenants are preparing for rising gas costs, gas has become increasingly cheaper on the so-called spot market since September. Large companies use this market to procure gas at short notice, which is why it is also called the “today and now market”. Most recently, the price there for a kilowatt hour had fallen to the equivalent of around three cents per kilowatt hour before rising again to the current eleven cents. For comparison: in 2020 – long before the gas crisis – you paid an average of just under seven cents at your gas supplier. So the question arises: As a private person, can’t you also benefit from the lower prices on the spot market?
The commodity exchange
First attempt: It goes to the European commodity exchange, the European Energy Exchange AG. Or in short: EEX. It is based in Leipzig and organizes the spot market for gas, electricity and other raw materials. Last October alone, 346.3 terawatt hours were traded on the global EEX spot market for natural gas. One terawatt hour is equivalent to one million megawatt hours or one billion kilowatt hours. For comparison: the annual consumption of a family in a 100 square meter apartment is estimated to be around 15,400 kilowatt hours on average for heating and hot water. And that’s where the problems begin. Because the minimum quantity that you have to buy in EEX gas trading is one megawatt. Far too much for private consumption.
Perhaps that’s why EEX has relatively strict rules about who is allowed to go public: only approved companies with equity capital of at least EUR 50,000. In addition, traders – “Traders” in technical jargon – have to undergo training. Just going to the raw materials exchange, even as a private person, that doesn’t work.
The gas supplier
So it’s on to the gas suppliers. Stadtwerke München is familiar with tariffs based on the spot market. At least they offer a dynamic electricity tariff, which is based on the price of the electricity spot market. Suppliers above a certain size are even legally obliged to offer such a tariff model. However, this model has some prerequisites. For example, an “intelligent metering system” capable of accurately measuring consumption based on time. Do the Munich municipal utilities also offer such a dynamic gas tariff? “No,” replies the municipal company, “so far there has been no technical basis for implementing a dynamic gas tariff.”
It’s the same with Gasag AG, which supplies Berlin with gas. There is no measuring system and therefore no dynamic gas tariff. A dynamic gas tariff will probably not be introduced nationwide in the near future: “There are currently no considerations to anchor a right to gas supply contracts with dynamic tariffs in energy law,” says the Federal Ministry of Economics.
The spot market pro
If you want to talk to the pros on the spot market, you can’t get around Andreas Clor. He is the managing director of EGT Energievertrieb, an energy supplier from the Black Forest that specializes in dynamic energy tariffs. Clor is convinced: On average, in most cases, gas tariffs based on the spot market have worked better in recent years.
To prove it, Clor has a few numbers from the past few years. The spot market price is therefore on average below the longer-term futures market price at which purchases can be made months or years in advance. The classic gas tariff is based on these longer-term prices. Even in the cold months when the heaters are turned on, the spot market is usually marginally cheaper.
Now 2022 is not a normal year. But even in these atypical times, the spot market prices are currently again below those of longer-term trading – regardless of the heating season. By the end of October, on the other hand, you would have saved up to 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour. It was different in March: a kilowatt hour was about 17 cents more expensive on the spot market. Fluctuations are therefore normal. That’s why Clor emphasizes the average price over a year, which smooths out such large swings.
If you assume that Average consumption in November and the mentioned 10.5 cent difference for the whole month, then the average family in the 100 square room apartment could save up to 180 euros. But even EGT Energievertrieb cannot benefit from the spot market prices at the moment. The reason is a new customer stop: According to the company, it no longer has the capacity to accept new customers. In any case, Clor only offers the dynamic gas tariff to private customers in exceptional cases. The EGT is primarily aimed at customers from industry and commerce. The spot market remains closed to private customers.