Thousands of Danish electricity customers are being transferred to new suppliers in a market where only 4.7% of customers switched supplier on their own initiative in 2023, while a 2026 tax reform that reduced the state’s share of your power bill to under 2% has made contract choice more important than ever.
According to the Danish Energy Agency, about 13 to 15% of customers change supplier in a typical year, but just 4.7% switched on their own initiative in 2023. As the agency’s own switching analysis states, most supplier switches happen without active consumer choice, for example when people move home or when suppliers go bankrupt or transfer portfolios. Some suppliers have carried out portfolio transfers in 2026, moving thousands of customers to new terms, often without those customers fully understanding the change.
For new residents, the risk is real. People who move into Danish housing often start on standard default contracts, which can be variable rate products with fixed fees and short price notice periods. Contract letters arrive in Danish via e-Boks. Meanwhile, the structure of electricity bills has changed significantly in 2026, as the cost of living in Denmark continues to shift in ways that reward active contract management.
The electricity tax that nearly vanished
On 1 January 2026, Denmark cut its general electricity tax from 72.7 øre per kilowatt hour to just 0.8 øre, the EU legal minimum. The reform, passed as law L 24 in late 2025, lowers the average household bill by about 2,876 kroner per year at 4,000 kWh consumption, according to the explanatory notes to L 24. For a household using 6,000 kWh, the saving is around 4,314 kroner annually.
The catch is that the cut is temporary, running only through 31 December 2027, and applies solely to the first 6,000 kWh per dwelling per year. Any consumption above that threshold is taxed at the old rate. This means high use households, especially those with electric heating or home EV charging, hit the cap quickly and pay normal tax on the marginal kilowatt hours.
In 2024, taxes could make up more than half of the total electricity price for many households, according to data from Forsyningstilsynet and Elberegner.dk. In 2026, the electricity tax itself now accounts for under 2% of the bill for most households. What you pay now depends almost entirely on your supplier’s markup and the wholesale spot price, which makes contract terms far more important than before.
The expat blind spot
Denmark does not publish official breakdowns of electricity customers or switching behaviour by citizenship, according to Statistics Denmark’s energy datasets. The closest proxy is population data. According to Statistics Denmark’s StatBank table FOLK1E, about 14% of Denmark’s population were immigrants or descendants in 2024, and around one in ten households had at least one foreign born adult. These households cluster in urban areas where variable spot contracts are common and where landlord managed contracts add another layer between the tenant and the supplier.
Unlike some EU countries, Denmark does not automatically provide standardised English language key information documents for retail power contracts. Information obligations exist under consumer protection law, but the default language is Danish. For someone who does not read Danish legal language fluently, a letter announcing a supplier change can look like routine administrative noise rather than a signal to compare prices.
With the electricity tax almost eliminated below 6,000 kWh, contract terms and market prices matter much more than before. Spot prices in early 2026 reached around 0.80 to 0.85 kroner per kWh in some months, according to market analyses from Norlys, Andel and Energi Fyn, meaning retail prices remained elevated despite the tax cut.
What you can do
Danish electricity supply is fully liberalised. You can change supplier or product at any time, typically with one to fourteen days’ notice and no exit fee for standard variable contracts. If you receive notice of a supplier change via e-Boks, you can actively select a different supplier instead. The switch happens automatically through Energinet’s central DataHub system.
Log in to your current supplier’s self service portal and ask explicitly what product you are on, whether it is spot or fixed price, what the variable markup is in øre per kWh, and what the monthly subscription fee is. Check your e-Boks for letters about supplier changes or new terms. Use independent comparison tools approved by Forsyningstilsynet to compare offers. Some have partial English interfaces or can be translated in browser.
If electricity is bundled in your rent, request a breakdown from your landlord and reference the 2026 tax cut. Under tenancy law, landlords must document running cost increases. If you suspect you have been moved onto more expensive terms without proper notice, complain first to the supplier and then escalate to the Ankenævnet på Energiområdet, the official Energy Complaints Board, which accepts complaints in English and allows digital submission.
Save up to 2,800 DKK on Your Electricity Bill
FindElpriser helps you switch electricity providers quickly and easily.
The bigger picture
Denmark is moving in the opposite direction of many European neighbours. While Germany and several central European countries introduced price caps or brake mechanisms on electricity bills after the 2022 energy crisis, Denmark is using a temporary tax cut while leaving market based spot pricing intact. This makes supplier choice more critical in Denmark than in countries where the state caps end user prices.
Denmark’s offshore wind energy infrastructure is intended to contribute to more stable or lower wholesale prices over the long term, but those reforms affect bills gradually. Supplier changes and contract choices affect you immediately. The tax is legally scheduled to snap back to a higher level from 1 January 2028 unless new legislation is passed. Because the tax cut is time limited, long term residents should expect market conditions and contract choice to remain important.
The 6,000 kWh cap is applied per dwelling unit, not per person, as confirmed in the Finance Committee report on L 24. In shared apartments with several internationals, high combined use can push the household above the cap, meaning marginal consumption is taxed at the old, much higher rate. A single foreign student in a small studio with district heating benefits fully from the low tax. A group of foreign workers in an electric heated shared house may pay significantly more on their marginal consumption despite living more densely.
