ACM: price ceiling ends, take out a fixed energy contract if you want certainty

Just a few more weeks and then the price ceiling for gas, electricity and district heating will cease to exist. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets therefore recommends taking out a permanent contract if you want certainty about the level of your gas and electricity rates in the near future.

“Fixed contracts are currently cheaper than variable contracts. Fixed contracts with a term of 2 or 3 years have become approximately 5 percent cheaper in the past month and are currently the cheapest,” the ACM said.

For a year there were fixed maximum rates for gas (1.45 euros per cubic meter) and electricity (0.40 euros per kilowatt hour). But that will end on January 1. At the moment this makes little difference, because the rates of most energy companies are below those maximums.

But that could of course change in the coming months. “From January, households will no longer be protected against high energy prices,” the ACM emphasizes. “Households that want certainty about the amount of their energy bill can therefore best opt ​​for a fixed contract with prices below the price ceiling. For households that find fixed prices less important, there is a wide range of attractively priced variable and dynamic contracts.”

It is impossible to say in advance whether it will ultimately be cheaper with a fixed, variable or dynamic contract. Because no one knows now how energy prices will develop in the coming years. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas prices rose to their highest level ever. But the European gas market has now returned to much calmer waters and a further drop in gas prices is also possible.

There are currently also providers with rates above the price ceiling. According to the ACM, more than 6 percent of households now have a contract with one of those companies. In the monthly Consumer Market Energy Monitor ACM monitors energy rates.