Why do prices sometimes vary so much between hours?

Why do hourly prices vary so much?

With dynamic tariffs you may see huge differences between two consecutive hours. That can feel strange, but it’s a direct result of how the market works.

Key drivers

• Supply and demand: lots of sun or wind can push prices down for several hours.
• Imports and exports: cross-border flows affect the price hour by hour.
• Grid congestion: constraints on the grid can push local prices up.

Leafy Energy’s approach

• Price alerts help you automatically avoid very expensive spikes.
• The app uses colour bands (green = cheap, red = expensive) to show tension levels.
• Dashboards reveal which time-of-day is structurally cheaper for you.

Instead of letting price spikes scare you, Leafy Energy turns them into signals you can use to plan more intelligently.