Tibber, Pulse Smart Home Module experiences?

Just so for last winter. It's from ZDF:

Yes, I had thought about it a lot too, but thanks to plant lamps we consume so much more electricity in winter (not because of heating but for lighting) that it probably doesn't pay off for me.

I find it hard to assess because 2022 is hardly representative, but those are the only figures Tibber has on the website. So far in 2023, electricity prices have behaved much more linearly again. What this means for prices in December and January, I don't know because I have no data except for 2022. I also suspect that we will consume most of our electricity from the grid in winter because of the heat pump.

The assumption that the tariff based on the market price is so expensive in winter is currently not confirmed at all. Private photovoltaic systems may then possibly drop out, and demand will rise due to heat pumps, but how much does that really affect the price? The wind keeps blowing, at the moment more wind is coming into our electricity mix.

It is clear that electricity consumption is significantly higher in winter than in summer. And this will also be the case in the future. At the same time, not only private photovoltaic systems are out most of the time, but also commercial ones. What the wind doesn’t provide must therefore come from coal and gas or be purchased from neighbors. Our electricity prices are currently about ~28c, which allows a market electricity price of 130€/MWh, then the fixed price is cheaper. There is not much room for a decrease. In the long term, we are all supposed to use more electricity, while coal power plants are meant to be phased out by 2030. This clearly increases dependence on wind and gas. If the wind fails, dependence on gas becomes even greater.

I have been using Awattar for about 4 years (similar to Tibber, but without an app) and have also been using Tibber for a few weeks now. We have an electric car with a smart wallbox that charges when electricity is cheap, and a heat pump that knows the prices and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Here is my conclusion:
- Negative prices are very rare, and extremely low prices like -45 cents occur perhaps once every few years. You should not necessarily count on that.
- It should be considered that the spot market mainly represents residual utilization, meaning everything that is not handled through quota contracts is traded here. This sometimes causes quite strong fluctuations.
- Spot prices can sometimes be very high (40 - 60 ct) around the clock for extended periods, like last summer when nuclear power plants in France were not running. In such cases, I charged at an ENBW charging station (35 ct) rather than at home.
- It is very difficult to be "much" cheaper than with a fixed price. If you also have your own photovoltaic system on the roof (we don’t have one yet), I believe it is no longer really financially worthwhile.
- It is kind of fun, no question. And charging the car with very cheap electricity is nice.

For our new house (with a photovoltaic system), however, I would rather sign a fixed price contract again, provided the prices are normal again at 30-35 cents. A reputable provider buys its electricity at a fixed price long in advance and can thus serve its customers at a fixed price and is not subject to the fluctuations of the spot market.
ps: On the Awattar homepage, it is possible to look at electricity prices for longer past periods, and there are also "highlights" where it was cheap.

At Nord Pool, you can click through the hourly values up to early 22.


Here is a week in January outside the holiday season. On average, significantly cheaper than what private consumers can conclude when you add the margin and grid fees of Tibber/Awattar.

However, you also have to be able to pay your electricity bill when it is as expensive as last August for weeks.

Are there any current (long-term) experiences? I have observed all this periodically throughout the winter and with electric car charging before 6, it should be cheaper overall than a fixed price. Even with the expensive days.