Most of the country’s electricity suppliers are preparing to announce December retail electricity prices of between 32 and 35 cents per MWh, down 20 percent compared to November, a reflection of lower natural gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub in recent weeks.
Some suppliers are set to go as low as just over 30 cents per MWh, the lowest retail power prices have been since August, when new rules were introduced requiring suppliers to announce prices for each forthcoming month by the 20th of the preceding month.
Given this requirement, helping consumers make price comparisons, suppliers must announce their December prices by midnight Sunday.
The anticipated price reduction will not result in lower prices for consumers. But the state, subduing the cost of retail electricity at 15 to 16 cents per KWh through subsidies, will benefit as it will be able to maintain this desired price level by contributing less.
Like in November, no state budget money will be needed for energy subsidies offered by the government, meaning it will have some leeway to subsidize other sectors, most probably auto fuel, once again on the rise.
On another front, suppliers have expressed complaints about a new windfall profit tax, set to be introduced over successive three-month periods, beginning with August to October. Suppliers protest the initiative’s formula lacks clarity and has increased the complexity of cost calculations.