Danish electricity prices evening peak and dunkelflaute, Digi Mart USA News (Denmark): Electricity has been expensive in Denmark in recent days, and at 5 p.m. today the price rises above six kroner per kilowatt-hour.
Casper Brejnbjerg Olsen, director of subscription sales and customer service at the electricity company Ewii, said the prices are markedly higher than usually seen.
According to Olsen, the high prices are largely caused by the weather phenomenon known as dunkelflaute. He said there is little of the cheap renewable energy available because it is not windy and the skies are overcast.
Olsen also said higher prices for oil and gas are pushing electricity prices up. When renewable sources cannot produce all the electricity needed, fossil energy is used to supplement supply, which sets the price.
DR asked Ewii to calculate what it costs on average to use electricity today between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., and how much consumers can save by waiting.
Ewii estimates the average total electricity price in that window is about 5.45 kroner per kilowatt-hour.
According to Ewii, an average oven typically uses between 2,000 and 3,000 watts depending on brand, size and type. For an oven using 2,500 watts run for one hour, that is 2.5 kilowatt-hours, which would cost about 13.6 kroner this evening.
Although electricity is expensive, baking a lasagna for dinner does not cost hundreds of kroner extra, according to the calculation. Ewii’s examples include Nord Pool spot prices, Trefor network tariffs, Energinet tariffs, electricity tax and VAT, but exclude the company’s own surcharge and subscription.
Charging an electric car can also be much cheaper outside the evening window. Ewii calculated charging a Volkswagen ID.3 with a 58 kilowatt-hour battery from 10 to 80 percent.
Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
today, that costs about 246 kroner, while charging between midnight and 6 a.m. costs about 105 kroner, a saving of nearly 150 kroner.
The calculation accounts for roughly 10 percent charging loss.
Running the washing machine overnight rather than this evening also saves money, though the difference is smaller. According to Ewii, a 40-degree wash typically uses about 0.6 kilowatt-hours, while a 60-degree wash can use up to 1.2 kilowatt-hours, depending on the machine’s age, efficiency and program.
With evening prices around 5.45 kroner per kilowatt-hour and overnight prices around 2.33 kroner per kilowatt-hour, a wash this evening costs more than twice as much as one overnight.
