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Customers are fleeing high electricity and gas prices. They gradually opt out of suppliers of last resort (DPI), who temporarily supplied them with energy after the end of their original supplier, such as Bohemia Energy. And they switch to standard products, whether from replacement or other suppliers.
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After a month, about a third of customers have left the DPI mode, and this number is still growing. Although most people or companies stay with replacement suppliers, the rest reach for alternative companies, which are currently facing enormous interest in new contracts.
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“All the contracts we concluded with our customers between October and 14 November have not yet been handed over and processed, but their number is likely to reach 30,000,” says Jiří Matoušek, Centropol’s marketing director.
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In the month of October alone, we signed more contracts than in the entire third quarter of this year, and this interest will not continue in November either.
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The unexpected influx of new customers is mainly due to the end of the Bohemia Energy group of alternative suppliers, which had over 900,000 supply points. Another ending company was Kolibřík Energie, which supplied about 30,000 customers.
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With the gradual end of suppliers, the number of requests for new contracts from their former customers increased. “In the month of October alone, we signed more contracts than in the entire third quarter of this year, and this interest will not continue in November either,” said David Neckář, marketing manager of the SPP supplier.
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Compared to the current situation, the company EP Energy Trading (epet), which belongs to the Energy and Industrial Holding of billionaire Daniel Křetínský, also faces extreme interest. “Thousands of customers turn to us, on the basis of which we significantly expand our team and come up with innovations on how to simplify the conclusion of the contract as much as possible,” said Barbora Marešová, epet marketing specialist.
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“The increase compared to the previous period is two to three times. Within gas and electricity, we talk about the units of thousands of inquiries that we process. The question, of course, is how many customers actually reach the delivery, “says Michal Kulig, CEO of Yello.
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However, traders anticipate that there will be more customers after the six-month period in which last-minute customers must find a new company. “We expect that the number of customers we will take care of will increase significantly by tens of thousands,” Matoušek estimates.
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Former clients of Bohemia Energy and others have taken on the suppliers of last resort, from which most new customers pass. “I would say that at the moment, 80 percent of all newly signed contracts come from the last resort supplier regime,” Kulig estimates. However, SPP accounts for more than 92 percent of new customers.
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Due to the fact that some suppliers announced a rise in early autumn, their clients’ interest in switching to new companies increased. Centropol saw an increase before Bohemia Energy announced its end. Two days later, the supplier Hummingbird was found.
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„11. October was a fourfold increase in the number of new customers compared to last year. On October 15, the increase was already tenfold and most customers concluded contracts with Centropol on Monday, October 18, when there was a year-on-year increase of twelve times compared to October 2020, “says Matoušek.
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Another influx of alternative suppliers has also been provided by companies that make energy significantly more expensive for their clients or transfer their current contracts to a tariff linked to wholesale prices, whether legitimately or not.
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“There are more companies on the market that are no longer able to supply their customers with energy. All these people are therefore looking for a new alternative and are looking for a stable and reliable supplier for clear reasons, “says Marešová.
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If we take into account the roughly one million customers who ended up in DPI, 10 percent of the market is moving in a short time. This is an unprecedented situation for all suppliers.
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According to Kulig, the entire energy market is now moving. “If we take into account the roughly one million customers who ended up in DPI mode, 10 percent of the market is on the move in a short time. It is an unprecedented situation for all suppliers and, of course, an increased demand on the systems and employees of not only suppliers, but also, for example, the Market Operator, “he says.
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However, for new customers, these suppliers have to buy new electricity, the price of which is currently high. Customers will thus pay significantly more for electricity and gas than other clients of these companies.
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“The overpressure is huge and no one expected that a tenth of the market would appear here, which would not have a secure energy supply from day to day. Everyone has to buy and try to balance the risk that they will sell to existing clients too cheaply or give a correspondingly higher price, which they could possibly reduce, “describes Kulig.
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The same is true of Centropol, which makes sure that it meets its obligations. “In addition, we are preparing for tens of thousands of new customers to join us from DPI. Of course, no supplier could expect such a high and immediate increase, and we also had to react to the situation and immediately start buying electricity and gas for new customers, “says Matoušek.
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Because of this, they have prices many times higher than other customers of these companies. At Centropol, at the most common D02d rate, people pay 3,252 crowns without VAT for MWh of electricity, and pay 1,713 crowns / MWh without VAT for gas with an annual consumption of 7.5 to 15 MWh.
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Yello offers MWh of electricity for 2,999 crowns without VAT and MWh of gas for 1,499 crowns without VAT. “At the moment, we are preparing a new price list for an indefinite period, which will be about 30 percent lower than the current one,” says Kulig, adding that cheaper prices will probably be offered in the last week of November.
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