Dynamic electricity tariff: does it beat your fixed price?
Enter your annual use and current unit rate: the calculator spreads your consumption over every quarter hour of the last 30 days.
Last 30 days: dynamic dearer by
€8.05
for 247 kWh over that period
| Dynamic, cost | €102.24 |
| Fixed price, cost | €94.19 |
| Average dynamic all-in price | 41.5 ct/kWh |
| Over a year (if it stayed like this) | +€98 |
Standing charges and fixed costs are left out because both contracts carry them. The last 30 days are not a forecast: winter and summer differ a lot.
Exchange price + 2.00 ct markup + 10.72 ct grid fee + electricity tax 2.05 ct + levies 2.946 ct + concession fee, plus 19% VAT. Standing charge and meter fee not included.
Latest day with prices: 25 October 2026. Day-ahead wholesale prices: Bundesnetzagentur | SMARD.de (CC BY 4.0), fetched on 24 October 2026. Calculation: Radif Partners
A dynamic electricity tariff bills each kilowatt-hour at the exchange price of the quarter hour in which you use it, plus the supplier’s markup and the fixed taxes and fees of your country. In Germany every supplier has had to offer one since 1 January 2025 to customers with a smart metering system (section 41a of the Energy Industry Act); in the Netherlands dynamic contracts have been common for longer. Whether it pays depends less on the exchange price than on when you use power. On prices from 26 September 2026 to 25 October 2026, with 3,000 kWh a year, the German average grid fee and an assumed 2 ct markup, an even daily profile came to 41.5 ct/kWh against a fixed 38.20 ct/kWh (other-supplier average, April 2025 monitoring report), while a mostly-evening profile came to 43.6 ct/kWh. In the Netherlands, with 2,500 kWh and the same assumed fee, the even profile came to 32.6 ct/kWh against the CBS variable-contract average of 25.96 ct/kWh.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Four usage profiles on the same 30 days
| Profile (example) | Germany, average | DE per year | Netherlands, average | NL per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Even | 41.46 ct/kWh | +€98 | 32.60 ct/kWh | +€166 |
| Mostly evening | 43.59 ct/kWh | +€162 | 34.92 ct/kWh | +€224 |
| Mostly night | 40.65 ct/kWh | +€74 | 31.69 ct/kWh | +€143 |
| Mostly midday | 38.93 ct/kWh | +€22 | 30.02 ct/kWh | +€101 |
The profiles are examples, not measurements: “evening” puts three times as much use on 5 to 10 pm as on the daytime, “night” puts most of it before 6 am, like a car charging overnight. The yearly figure simply repeats those 30 days; a winter with little wind and sun looks different. Standing charges and network costs apply to both contracts and are left out of the comparison.
What is inside the dynamic price
Only the exchange part moves. In Germany the grid fee, electricity tax of 2.05 ct/kWh, levies and concession fee are fixed per kWh, with VAT on top, so at an exchange price of zero you still pay well over 20 cents. In the Netherlands the energy tax of 9.161 ct/kWh (Environmental Taxes Act (Wbm), articles 59 and 63 (1 January 2026)) plus VAT plays the same role. That is why negative exchange prices almost never make the all-in price negative. The German breakdown is on German electricity price breakdown.
What the official figures say
For 2025 the German Federal Network Agency and Federal Cartel Office: Monitoring Report 2025, table 25 gives a model price of 36.30 ct/kWh for dynamic tariffs against 36.90 ct/kWh for new-customer contracts, both with standing charges and taxes. Over a year the gap is small; it only widens when use is shifted on purpose. The obligation to offer such tariffs is in Energy Industry Act (EnWG), section 41a: dynamic tariffs. Dutch averages come from CBS StatLine 85592NED: average energy rates for consumers (CC BY 4.0).
How to use the calculator
Annual use and unit rate are on your last annual bill. Under “Dynamic contract details” enter the markup the supplier adds to the exchange price and, in Germany, your federal state for the grid fee. Which hours you could shift is shown by cheapest hour and EV charging cost.