Soon, Gudbrandsdal Energi (GE) will charge NOK 360 a year for information that is currently free for customers, including smart charging of the car.
The company says customers have been informed that only the trial period was free. GE is now launching the Spare subscription, which costs NOK 30 a month after a three-month introductory offer at NOK 10 per month.
If the customers do not want to pay this, they lose smart charging of the car as well as access to see which hours they used the most electricity, so-called power peaks, which form the basis for the online rental.
Others also have a monthly fee
They also do not get estimated consumption for the whole month and the opportunity to compare their own consumption with similar households.
Other electricity companies such as Fjordkraft and Tibber also charge a monthly fixed amount of NOK 49 and NOK 39 respectively, which among other things gives access to information and smart charging in the app. Now GE is following.
The company believes that there are a number of examples of services that have been free, but which become part of a subscription.
– It is true that certain services that have so far been available to customers through a free trial period will, from 1 March, become part of a savings subscription at NOK 30 per month. If the customers are not satisfied, they get their money back, writes Marius Røed Sveipe, general manager of Gudbrandsdal Energi, in an e-mail to VG.
The trial period has lasted two years. GE states that the customers have been informed that there was a trial period since early 2022 and that this has been stated both in “product info” as well as in the order confirmation and the terms and conditions.
Sveipe believes there is no risk that the monthly amount on the Spare subscription is wasted since you get a satisfaction guarantee.
Today, you can smart-charge your electric car with the free app. But GE believes you can save far more per year than the subscription’s cost of NOK 360.
– Make a living from the power saving services
– Are you introducing this app because you earn too little from the electricity sales themselves?
– We are betting on power saving services because we are experiencing increased demand and increased
importance of these services for our customers. The electricity is the same regardless of who supplies it, and the price of electricity varies minimally from supplier to supplier. What really sets the suppliers apart is the ability to help customers use as little electricity as possible, writes Sveipe and adds that this will be an important part of the company’s core business.
GE now refers to itself as an energy-saving company whose main task is to help customers use less electricity.
The company has increased the surcharge on electricity for new customers to 3 øre per kilowatt hour, while old customers still pay 1 øre.
– There are many indications that even 3 øre is too low a surcharge if the costs of supplying electricity are to be covered, writes Sveipe, who believes it is time we gained perspective on the discussion in Norway.
In comparison, Fjordkraft operates with a surcharge of 4.90 øre/kWh in the spot price agreement they have on theirs websites.
According to Sveipe, GE must have a mark-up that covers the costs associated with supplying electricity, but no significant profit.
– We will make a living by offering the best hosiery services to our customers.
GE ended up on second place in the electricity industry then Norwegian Customer Barometer last year measured customer satisfaction in its annual large-scale survey.
Sveipe says they cannot say how many customers they have since they are part of a listed group.
Customers who do not take out the Spare subscription will still have access to:
* Own consumption and prices
* Highest and lowest price, as well as yesterday’s average price
* Cost in kroner and øre
* Estimated electricity support and calculated price on the next invoice
* Option to manually view power peaks back in time
Schibsted is the owner of Tibber. VG is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Schibsted group. Certain journalists in VG own shares in Schibsted through the group’s share savings programme.