Dynamic energy contracts

The shift to 15-minute pricing: unlocking the power of Dynamic Energy Contracts

Since September 30th, the European Day-Ahead electricity market has shifted from hourly pricing to 15-minute intervals, aiming to better reflect real fluctuations in renewable production and consumption. This change marks a major enabler for energy suppliers to offer far more granular, responsive pricing models.

At the same time, energy companies are under pressure to strike the right balance: advancing sustainability goals, enabling flexibility to support grid stability, and keeping customers satisfied and engaged. Dynamic pricing models are quickly becoming a key driver in achieving that balance.

The benefits of dynamic energy contracts

Dynamic contracts offer major advantages for both utilities and consumers:

  • Encouraging smart consumption
    More granular pricing motivates customers to use energy during periods of high renewable production, reducing costs and helping balance supply and demand.

  • Promoting sustainability
    Flexible consumption reduces strain on the grid and strengthens the role of renewables, accelerating progress toward Net Zero.
  • Grid balancing
    With growing electrification and intermittent renewables, maintaining grid stability is becoming more complex. Dynamic pricing plays a crucial role in encouraging load shifting and balancing supply and demand in real-time.

What is a dynamic energy contract?

A dynamic energy contract is a pricing model where electricity rates follow the wholesale market in near real-time (every 15 minutes), while gas rates adjust daily.

Customers receive day-ahead price forecasts, and can opt in for real-time alerts (via email, mobile app, or SMS), enabling them to adapt their consumption to the evolving price curve – whether that means charging an EV during a low-price window or pausing large appliances during peak demand.

Until now, utilities offering dynamic tariffs linked them to the hourly day-ahead price. With 15-minute intervals, tariffs can now more closely mirror the actual market, unlocking more responsive and flexible pricing.

Four key tips when introducing dynamic contracts

1

Empower customer engagement

Offer an intuitive digital portal with real-time price visibility, 15-minute updates, automated alerts, and consumption insights.

2

Integrate seamlessly

Ensure your CIS is tightly connected with energy broker platforms and market data sources to guarantee accurate, real-time price delivery.

3

Educate on risks and rewards

Make it clear that dynamic contracts reward proactive behavior – but require awareness and flexibility. Transparency builds trust and adoption.

4

Bill accurately and transparently

Automate billing based on actual interval consumption rather than estimated prepayments. Clear monthly statements help customers stay in control.

How to implement dynamic energy contracts effectively

Deploying dynamic contracts requires a modern, flexible Customer Information Solution – and Itineris’ UMAX solution is built for exactly this.

UMAX is a flexible CRM & CIS solution, specifically designed for utilities.

With its open architecture:

  • You can seamlessly integrate 15-minute market data, broker portals, and mobile applications.
  • All operational data is available for external consumption and is natively integrated with our Data Hub for analytics and AI-driven forecasting.
  • Real-time notifications can be automated, enabling suppliers to alert customers when prices turn negative – encouraging intelligent behaviors such as EV charging, battery storage activation, or temporarily disconnecting self-generated supply.

The future of energy pricing is fast, flexible, and consumer-driven. And with UMAX, you’re ready.

Dynamic energy contracts in UMAX

Dynamic contracts: market-driven, customer focused

With UMAX-powered Dynamic Contracts, you can introduce flexible pricing models that align with real-time market conditions. Whether it’s time-of-use tariffs, smart EV charging, or local solar optimization, your customers gain control over their energy usage while you unlock new revenue streams from market opportunities.

A true win-win!

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Itineris & UMAX

Itineris develops and implements UMAX, a set of cloud-based solutions for utilities.

UMAX supports accurate conversion of meter readings to bills, with extensive customer and field service support capabilities.

The UMAX solutions are built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform.

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