The gas situation is improving in Denmark. Much better!
The EU countries recently set a target to raise their gas supplies to 85 percent of storage capacity before the start of winter, and Green Power Denmark and Energinet can now confirm that the Danish reserves are full to the brim: enough for two to three months’ supply over the winter.
“This means that we are very well prepared when we enter the winter. We simply cannot get more gas in stock than we have right now,” commented Green Power Denmark chief consultant Kristian Rune Poulsen according to DR.
Improved gas supplies across the EU
Gas prices have fallen accordingly โ especially in light of Germany’s storage reaching 96.0 percent capacity and France’s reaching 98.9 percent, according to AGSI+.
As of Monday, October 17, they were down 60 from their peak at the end of August. At 0.13 euros per kilowatt-hour of natural gas, it is the lowest price since June, according to the Dutch gas exchange TTF.
“Consumers quite rightly feared the development in natural gas prices during the winter months. However, the latest price development is encouraging and gives hope of a much cheaper winter than feared,” says Per Hansen, investment economist at Nordnet, to TV2.
Still an urgent to preserve
Nevertheless, consumers are still advised to be careful to conserve energy where they can. Their efforts have already contributed to the situation becoming brighter and achieving a better balance between supply and demand.
In the second half of the winter, Denmark may still end up depending on its production of biogas and imports from other countries โ especially if the winter is long and hard.
“What will be decisive is how the winter will be. It can still be quite critical if we have an icy winter in January, but if it is a mild winter, we are actually in a quite okay situation,” says Danske Bank’s chief analyst Arne Lohmann Rasmussen to TV2.
And everyone wants a cheaper bill, right?
In general, consumers whose energy bills are dictated by variable electricity prices can avoid high energy bills by taking weather conditions into account and checking current prices.
It is true that opening times are generally the cheapest, but not when it is windy (anything over seven meters per second). Likewise, blue skies and constant sunshine can also see prices drop mid-day.
Check out the graph on this link to assess whether the next two or three hours is a good window to do some washing in. And bookmark it, like this curve will update even though the story wasn’t published until May.