Strong growth in tariffs and services for demand-side flexibility in Europe
Smart energy tariffs and services have almost tripled in the last three years.
Europe’s energy system of today and tomorrow requires flexibility to enhance resilience, integrate low-cost renewables, avoid or delay expensive grid upgrades, and ultimately reduce costs for all energy system users. The good news is that by smartly charging an electric vehicle (EV), and smartly heating water and/or a home, the electrification of transport and heating opens up new money and carbon saving opportunities for consumers and energy systems through flexible consumption.
In a new survey we found 480 tariffs and services that allow Europeans to adapt their EV or heat pump to (static or dynamic) time-varying energy and grid tariffs, their own rooftop solar generation, the current grid mix and local or national grid situations. This almost threefold increase shows that flexible electricity use is gaining traction. There is a market for this, and an increasing choice for users.
This survey is a follow-up to our earlier work in 2021/2022, The time is now: smart charging of electric vehicles. At that time, we found 139 available tariffs and services for European consumers to smartly charge their EVs. We’ve now found 390 EV-related tariffs and services. The scope has now been extended to also include tariffs and services for heat pumps and other flexible domestic end uses, and many work with various devices — heating, EV — at the same time.
Below is an interactive map of Europe that shows the total number of tariffs and services per European country. Hovering over the country will show a breakdown of the available tariffs and services. You can also filter the map by clicking on the different types of tariffs and services available.
