A few months after Barry, another, larger, alternative supplier is preparing to enter the electricity market at cost price.
Leclerc Energies has been flooding its customers for a few weeks with emails announcing the arrival of an electricity offer at cost price, which all suppliers will have to offer in their catalog from 2022, according to European regulations.
But you have to pay anyway.
This dynamically-priced offer is based on a subscription at 6 euros per month, to which are added costs linked to regulatory obligations (contribution to security of supply).
It is only available for holders of a Linky meter, which allows a household's consumption to be monitored in real time.
Thanks to a dedicated application, customers will know hour by hour and 24 hours in advance the variable electricity tariff, indexed to the price on the wholesale market.
You can therefore choose when you consume to make maximum savings.
"It's up to you: schedule the dishwasher and washing machine to launch at the cheapest times!"
»Announces Leclerc.
Who sets the prices?
Rather intended for households with high consumption, dynamic pricing requires strong involvement on the part of the customer to take advantage of the cheapest time slots.
But can the price of electricity skyrocket?
The tariff is based on the European Energy Exchange, a market where the price of electricity varies from hour to hour depending on supply, demand, weather conditions, etc.
Read alsoElectricity: the milestone of 100,000 self-consumers passed in France
In 2020, the purchase price by electricity suppliers there was 32.20 euros / mWh on average, but the most expensive hour showed a price of 200.04 euros / MWh (between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on September 21, 2020), when the cheapest range was in negative territory, at -75.82 euros / mWh (between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on April 13).
"These price peaks are quite rare, we are talking about a few dozen hours over a year, which has 8,760", reassures Epex Spot, which manages this market.
Is this a good plan?
Leclerc announces that this system would have enabled, in 2020, a household consuming 7,000 kWh / year, up to 22% savings on kWh excluding taxes (compared to a standard bill based on the regulated sales tariff). However, Leclerc already offers two competitive offers: either a 10% discount on the price per kWh excluding tax compared to the regulated sales rate, or a double discount if the savings are credited to the Leclerc card for shopping.
And on the side of the consumers' association, we warn. "We are rather hostile to this type of offer because consumers want predictability on the bills, but there is none, explains Antoine Autier, deputy head of the research department, who also points to the price risk. high during peak hours, in winter, when consumers have high electricity needs.
