The energy companies Eneco, Essent and Vattenfall are not making exorbitant profits thanks to the energy crisis, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) reports. There were fears about this in the House of Representatives, among others, but the regulator has concluded on the basis of its own research that profits are not higher than in previous years.
This concerns profits of between 0 and 5 percent of turnover, which amounts to ‘a few tens’ of profit per household annually, according to ACM.
The fact that customers nevertheless pay a lot for their energy is due to the high purchasing costs that the energy companies have to deal with, according to the regulator. Companies also have to pay more to protect themselves against the risks of the volatile energy market, the regulator writes.
Gas prices have been falling for some time now, but the customer is not always aware of this price drop. This is because the energy companies purchase gas and electricity in advance on the wholesale market. This creates a delay between the prices on the market and the prices customers pay for their energy.
ACM started to monitor more closely when the government introduced a price ceiling for energy came. Research into other major suppliers will be continued in the near future.
Chairman of the Board Martijn Snoep understands that people perceive energy prices as unreasonably high, ‘but that is not the case’. He does emphasize, however, that customer rates will have to drop soon if prices on the wholesale market also continue to fall. “We are keeping a close eye on that.”
The three investigated energy companies already reported last month to cooperate with the investigation. “We think it’s good that ACM is on top of this,” Vattenfall said at the time. Essent and Eneco spokespersons also emphasized that they already knew in advance that ACM would come by.
Eneco
Eneco says it is ‘happy’ with ACM’s conclusion. With her research, she provides ‘clarity for everyone’, it says in a response. According to the energy company, purchase prices are now ‘fortunately’ lower again and it has incorporated that fall into the rates in recent months. “We have also started offering permanent contracts again and that offer can be expanded soon,” said the energy supplier.
“However, we realize that prices are far from returning to their old levels and that this is difficult for many people and therefore continue to support people in energy poverty,” the company said.
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