OCU recommends time-based pricing rates in order to save 80 Euros on electricity bills

OCU recommends that its consumers choose time-based pricing rates, leading to a savings of 80 Euros in the electricity bill of a family with average consumption. After years of experience and original initiatives such as our collective energy purchases, which united more than 600,000 people seeking to reduce their electricity and gas bills in Spain, OCU affirms that choosing the appropriate rate is one of the best ways for consumers to save.

Choosing a time-based pricing rate is an action all consumers can take without needing to change energy suppliers. It is precisely this fear of changing companies and ending up paying more that users have which prevents the generalisation of these rates.  This fear is totally justified, in OCU’s opinion, and, in fact, homes that do not have time-based pricing rates use, on average, 50% of their energy during off-peak hours. In order to start saving, it is only necessary for 30% of energy use to occur during these time periods. OCU states that, for the majority of homes, consumers can save 80 Euros a year in their electricity bill without changing any of their consumption habits.

OCU denounces that power companies are very aware of this information and, despite this, do not pass this savings option on to their clients. Of the more than 24,000 people who have signed up for this edition of the Collective Energy Purchase, only 13% already take advantage of time-based pricing rates. Moreover, there are important differences among the various energy suppliers. While 34% of Fenie Energía clients or 22% of Holaluz.com clients already have these rates, these percentages drop dramatically among the traditional suppliers. EDP Energía (7%) and Viesgo PVPC (4%) are the suppliers with the lowest percentage of clients that have time-based pricing rates.

Via its platform www.quieropagarmenosluz.org, OCU requests energy suppliers to promote and offer their clients effective measures which allow them to save. One of these measures, for example, is to provide those clients who have digital meters with information regarding their energy consumption during off-peak hours so that they can verify whether or not changing to a time-based pricing rate would be beneficial for them.

Moreover, in order to promote savings, OCU demands that distributors and suppliers implement active policies with the goal of offering the best possible rate according to the needs of each contract and with the highest degree of transparency possible. For this purpose, suppliers should be obligated to provide detailed information about all the rates they offer their clients, at least on their website.

Lastly, OCU is making this platform (www.quieropagarmenosluz.org) available for consumers to be able to sign up for the Collective Energy Purchase and facilitate the change to more economic time-based rates.

For more information, please contact (media). Telephone: 91 722 60 61 – prensa@ocu.org  www.ocu.org

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