Electricity is getting cheaper again. Perhaps for the last time, as the first suppliers have already withdrawn their attractive offers

Major electricity suppliers reduced the prices of their products again, effective from 1 February. Prices were cut by the largest supplier, ČEZ, which reduced the prices of its fixed-term products, and by innogy, which lowered prices for non-fixed products. Pražská plynárenská currently offers the cheapest electricity supply deals with one- and two-year fixed terms. However, its one-year fixed-term contract has risen slightly in price. EPET has also withdrawn its most advantageous offer. Does the increase in offer prices signal a turnaround in the retail supply market?

An overview of current offers from major suppliers can be found HERE.

Competition among electricity suppliers for new customers has not ceased. The high electricity prices during the energy crisis, after all, created sufficient room for prices to fall. The most advantageous price lists are often those intended for new customers, further indicating that suppliers are still competing for new business.

Two of the major electricity suppliers were the latest to cut their prices.

Partly state-owned ČEZ, the market leader in electricity supply, reduced the prices of its fixed-term products. For new customers, it offered a product with a one-year fixed term, a two-year fixed term and a promotional product fixed until the end of October 2026. This promotional product is the cheapest option. Under this price list, customers will pay 2590 Kč/MWh excluding VAT. However, the fixed monthly charge is somewhat higher, at 165 Kč/month. Typically, the fixed charge is slightly above 100 Kč.

Supplier offers from 2025-02-10

innogy, currently the fourth-largest electricity supplier by number of supply points, is instead attracting customers with reduced prices for electricity supply without a fixed term. According to its press release, it reduced prices for 350 000 customers who buy gas or electricity without a fixed term. innogy's non-fixed Standard product now costs 3500 Kč/MWh excluding VAT, while the identical price list previously charged 3924 Kč/MWh excluding VAT.

Supplier offers from 2025-02-10

Pražská plynárenská also introduced new price lists, and its campaign promoting the new products was visible across a number of online platforms. However, Pražská plynárenská did not always promote cheaper products. For example, its one-year fixed-term product, which was available at the end of last year, cost 2590 Kč/MWh excluding VAT. The newly introduced one-year product costs 2690 Kč/MWh excluding VAT.

Supplier offers from 2025-02-10

A similar trend can also be seen at EPET. At the end of last year, it offered one-year and two-year products for new customers at preferential prices. The products branded Kometa were, at the time, the cheapest one-year and two-year fixed-term deals on the market. These products are no longer publicly available either, and EPET's current offer is noticeably more expensive: by 240 Kč/MWh excluding VAT for the one-year product and by as much as 440 Kč/MWh for the two-year product.

Wholesale prices have remained high for a long time, leaving little room for further declines

Electricity prices on the exchange have remained around 100 EUR/MWh for more than two months. Prices at this level are being supported by relatively high natural gas prices, which in recent weeks have climbed above 55 EUR/MWh, as well as emission allowances. These had traded in a range between 60–70 EUR/t for a long time, but their price now exceeds 80 EUR/MWh.

Higher gas prices have remained around 50 EUR/MWh since the end of last year, when it became clear that natural gas transit through Ukraine would not continue in 2025. Gas prices are also affected by relatively low natural gas inventories in storage facilities in the European Union and the Czech Republic. They are currently filled to approximately half of their capacity. They are therefore at a substantially lower level than in the past two years (although at a similar level to previous years).

Discussions about a ban on imports of Russian gas into the European Union could also have some impact on the price of gas, and therefore electricity prices. Although the ban has not yet been adopted, the chances of one being introduced may grow given the diminishing role of Russian gas.

While wholesale prices rose in the second half of last year, household prices have gradually declined. Major suppliers have progressively cut prices, and this trend continued into the start of 2025.

However, developments on wholesale markets suggest that the downward trend in customer prices may soon end unless wholesale prices begin falling again. This may also be indicated by the fact that some suppliers no longer offer their most advantageous deals, which were still publicly available at the end of last year.