Insights ·
A record €195/MWh spread: from the pool or from your tariff?
August's spread broke the all-time record. But the pool spread and your contract spread are two different worlds, and only one flows through your bill.
“August's spread broke the all-time record: €195/MWh.”
It's true. OMIE publishes it, since August, as an official market indicator. And armed with that number, more than one salesperson is promising spectacular battery savings.
Two different worlds
Because they're two different worlds:
- The pool spread (the record one) is the gap between the cheapest and most expensive hour on the wholesale market. It's captured by grid-scale batteries buying and selling at market price.
- Your contract spread is the gap between your tariff periods. On a fixed-price commercial tariff, what any three-phase restaurant or shop pays, we measure it month by month: 8 cents/kWh in the good months, 0.3 in the bad ones. Nowhere near the pool's 19.5.
Both numbers are true. But only one flows through your bill.
The record does affect you: with a delay
Does that mean the record doesn't affect you? Quite the opposite, it affects you with a delay: at your next contract renewal, your supplier will price that volatility into your fixed rates. And indexed-tariff users live it already: entire nights without dropping below €260/MWh.
Where the real savings come from
That's why a battery's real savings in a business aren't calculated from market headlines:
- Backup: the cold room and the till don't care about spreads.
- Power optimization: fixed savings, every month.
- Reactive power: compensated free by the inverter.
- Arbitrage on your actual tariff: modest today, growing with every renewal.
Whoever calculates your savings with the pool spread is selling you someone else's battery.
We calculate with your bill. Less spectacular. True.