  In 2022, energy prices skyrocketed across Europe, with average day-ahead spot
market prices in Germany 2.43 times higher than the previous year, hinting at
future trends. At the same time, electricity infrastructure is expected to be
overutilized in some regions in the future due to the uptake of electric
vehicles, heat pumps, PV systems, and other appliances in the residential
sector. Dynamic electricity pricing for households is proposed as a solution to
alleviate infrastructure strain and reduce costs. The question arises as to
what impact dynamic electricity prices as recently seen on the day-ahead spot
market in Germany would have on the use of flexibility in households and
whether it can compensate for cost increases for households. We analyze the
cost-effectiveness of utilizing flexibility through a home energy management
system (HEMS) and smart meters against increased self-consumption using a HEMS
and static tariffs. We show that with higher electricity prices and price
spreads, a higher share of households can offset initial investments in HEMS
and metering operation costs by utilizing flexibility from their electric
vehicles, heat pumps, and battery storage systems. While increasing
self-consumption remains beneficial for households with heat pumps and PV
systems, dynamic electricity tariffs are financially more advantageous for
those with electric vehicles. The study also determines the maximum additional
annual costs for HEMS and metering point operation that still allow cost
savings for 75% of households. these costs range from 126 to 145 Euro in the
self-consumption scenario depending and from 50 to 111 Euro in the dynamic
electricity tariff scenario, highlighting the financial viability of
flexibility utilization in response to current pricing trends.
