Overview
- The first auction using quarter-hour slots ran on September 30 for delivery on October 1, replacing 24 hourly prices with 96 prices per day.
- To ease the transition, EPEX SPOT says participants can continue submitting bids in 60-minute granularity despite settlement moving to 15 minutes.
- Households on dynamic tariffs will see prices update up to four times an hour, creating potential savings for those who can shift loads such as EV charging, heat pumps or home batteries alongside greater cost volatility.
- Using dynamic pricing requires smart meters that record consumption in 15-minute steps, and suppliers have been obliged since early 2025 to offer them as rollout and home automation remain uneven.
- Consumer advocates warn against overstated marketing claims and urge scrutiny of bundled hardware offers, and surveys cite poor public understanding of these tariffs and concerns about fairness for less flexible households.