Two of the most popular dynamic electricity tariffs compared — and why a wall display helps find the cheapest time to use power.
Dynamic electricity tariffs are becoming increasingly popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Instead of a fixed price per kilowatt-hour, the price changes hourly based on the stock market price. Tibber and aWATTar are the best-known providers. But how do they differ, and why does a wall display help?
Tibber is a Norwegian provider active in Germany since 2020. The app is modern, the community large, and there is a dedicated smart home hub called Tibber Pulse. Electricity is billed hourly, plus a monthly base fee of EUR 5.99. Tibber offers an open API that third-party tools like VistaBoard can use to display prices live.
aWATTar is an Austrian provider that also offers dynamic stock-market electricity prices. The tariff is called HOURLY and works similarly to Tibber: hourly billing at the exchange price plus a markup. aWATTar is especially popular in Austria and growing in Germany.
The most important difference for daily life: both tariffs fluctuate hourly. On sunny, windy days the price can drop to 5 cents per kWh. On dark winter evenings it can rise to 40 cents. To benefit, you need to know when the price is currently cheap.
This is exactly where a wall display becomes valuable. VistaBoard shows current Tibber prices as a bar chart on the display. Green bars mean cheap hours, red bars expensive ones. At breakfast, the family immediately sees whether now is a good time to start the washing machine.
For PV owners, the combination is especially interesting. When the solar system produces a lot and the exchange price is high, it pays to feed power into the grid rather than use it yourself. When the price is low, self-consumption is better. VistaBoard shows both side by side: PV output and electricity price.
A common misconception: you do not need to constantly watch the price and frantically switch devices on and off. It is enough to see the daily trend in the morning and schedule large loads for cheap hours. Running the washing machine at 2 PM instead of 7 PM can save 50 to 100 euros per year.
Technically, VistaBoard currently supports the Tibber API natively. Price data is fetched automatically and displayed as a widget. For aWATTar customers, there is the option to integrate exchange prices via alternative interfaces.
Bottom line: whether Tibber or aWATTar — anyone with a dynamic electricity tariff should make prices visible. A wall display in the hallway or kitchen shows at a glance when electricity is cheap. That saves money and makes the flexible tariff truly useful.