Markets and Customers

Energy Market Liberalization

The liberalization of the electricity and gas markets creates for companies the challenge to survive in the cost competition with competitors

The energy market liberalization has lead to a strong designability of energy costs for industrial consumers. In comparison to competition, the room to maneuver is around 50%. By the utilization of professional energy consulting, companies can utilize huge cost saving potentials..

The Market and Factors of Influence

On the energy trading markets prevails a strong price volatility, which is not least connected with the impossibility to store energy as in the case of electricity. To achieve cost advantages, procurement strategies have to be aligned to the trading markets and the respective internal and external factors that influence the energy price. Active market analysis, market structure analysis, as well as active risk management are part of this.

Network costs, Taxes and Dues

Besides the volatile energy prices, also network costs, taxes and dues offer possibilities for optimization. The natural monopoly of the network operators is regulated nationally and internationally by European public authorities. Depending on the situation, these three factors offer cost saving potentials which can be utilized by professional energy consultants.

Margins and Breadth of the Market

The energy prices offered by professional suppliers are affected by margins for structuring and simplification measures, which offer further potentials for price negotiations. Finally, the main advantage of the energy market liberalization is the usability of the breadth of the market, which creates concrete cost advantages for the consumer

By the utilization of professional energy consulting, companies can utilize high cost saving potentials in comparison to competitors that do not consult professional support

The annual optimization potentials, on the one hand, arise from energy price fluctuations of up to more than 50% and network and electricity transmission costs that account for 20%-40% of the overall energy cost.
On the other hand, they are the result of taxes and dues, EnStG, EEG, KAV oder KWK-G – a plentitude of laws and regulations: Offer often non-utilized optimization potentials.

In practice, only few companies with high energy consumption levels of more than 3TWh per year develop own energy management departments. Due to time and cost efficiency reasons, as well as the lack of internal know-how, mostly specialized external service providers are engaged.