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How to save thousands on energy bills - electricity - by choosing the right supplier and tariff

zveřejněno 2021-03-31

Have you ever been unpleasantly surprised by an electricity bill? Maybe it's a good impulse to take a closer look at how much you're paying and what you're paying for, and plan to change your tariff or supplier to save a lot of money. In my case, I was deciding between CEZ and Europe Easy Energy. It is important to compare the current offer and also to look at the history of electricity prices.

During March 2021 I received my electricity bill for the previous year - with a slight underpayment. However, my neighbour had to top up about 20000Kč, which is quite an unexpected inconvenience. This forced me to take a closer look at where I stand, and if there are any savings to be made.

My model case has the following parameters:

Provider CEZ
Distribution rate D02d
Tariff Electricity in perpetuity
Payment period 03/2020 - 03/2021
Annual consumption 3,965 kWh
Total cost 22,800

For historical reasons, I stayed with CEZ, and due to the reluctance to commit, I had chosen a tariff without fixation. As I now wanted to save money, I was considering the following changes:

Switch to Europe Easy Energy (3-e), where I have had gas for a couple of years now without the slightest problem
Consider a fixed tariff. Only CEZ offers these (3-e for new contracts only), and for 1, 2 or 3 years. I chose the middle way - i.e. 2 years.

Mostly I was wondering how the prices have been the last couple of years, you can make some decisions based on that. Luckily both companies have price lists from previous years on their website. So that's where I drew my information from.

I was only comparing business rate, the distribution rate is the same for both companies. I put the rates for previous years in a chart, which needs a bit more detail.

First it shows 4 different tariffs (two without fixing and two with fixing) that I was considering:

eDomestic (Europe Easy Energy)
Electricity in perpetuity (CEZ)
Electricity in action for 2 years (CEZ)
Electricity in action for 2 years (CEZ)

Something is clear at a glance. If you want a tariff without fixation, go from CEZ, for example to Europe Easy Energy right now. For the last 4 years, the eHome tariff from 3-e has been consistently about 150-200 CZK cheaper than the same from CEZ. If you want a tariff with fixation, always ask for a tariff in action from CEZ. Of course, it is not fully visible on the web, but you can find it in the archive, or ask the operator.

What about the comparison of eHome VS Electricity in action for 2 years, i.e. tariff without fixation and with fixation? Given the gradual price increases (except for a small drop in the second half of 2021) it would always be worthwhile to have a fixed price. For example, the CZK 1205 signed in spring 2018 would be paid even after two years, when the current price of the indefinite tariff, the cheaper eHome variant from 3e, was CZK 1571, and even CZK 1878 for CEZ. This means a difference of several hundred crowns per MWh!

It should also be said that the savings obviously depend on consumption. If by changing the tariff I save e.g. 300 CZK for 1 MWh, then with my annual consumption of 4 MWh it means a total saving of 1200 CZK. A little or a lot, I guess it depends on each of you.

Conclusion

So I took the plunge and decided to switch to a 2-year fixed tariff "in action". Whether I will regret it or not remains to be seen in 2 years time.

A few final notes

And 3-e offers better prices under certain conditions. As with CEZ they are not completely in plain sight, but can be found here https://www.3-e.cz/elektrina/dokumenty-ke-stazeni/ for example. This is a tariff e.g. "eHome promo Jan 21-22 - offer for new customers only with fixed price guarantee until 31/12/2022". I think the name already makes everything clear. In my case (D02d) the prices would be as follows 1813,79 Kč VS 1511,29 Kč. Again, this could be an interesting saving of a few hundred crowns each month.

I also found this website https://kalkulator.tzb-info.cz/cz/analyza-cen-elektricke-energie where the prices go much further back in history, back to 2009. There you can see nicely the fluctuations in the price of electricity over the last 12 years.

In contrast, the graph here clearly shows that, for example, contracts with a fixing signed in 2013 have lost a bit of money, as the price has fallen quite significantly. Contracts signed in 2015 were roughly at zero, and another 2 years later - signed in 2017 - have already saved quite a bit, especially during 2019. This was also true for the 2019-2021 period.

But here it is nice to see that someone can't see into the future, and it can turn out all sorts of things. In any case, with a fixed price, one knows how one will fare and has already prepared for it. Which is a better option than looking at a big arrears bill at the end due to a significant increase in the price of energy during the year.

What about gas?

I haven't looked at that, but I would expect the same to apply to it in pale blue. CEZ more expensive, fixing more profitable. Except the price fluctuations don't seem to be as pronounced for pln.