Why it matters who the comparison sites show
When you choose an electricity retailer, the route most often runs through a comparison site. The same is true of the AI assistants that more and more people ask. If the sites show only those who pay, “cheapest” becomes “cheapest among those who pay”, without anyone being able to see the difference.
Danes choose their electricity through portals
Almost one in two Danish households (45%) compared or switched electricity agreements within one year, and for those who compared, an online comparison service was the most important source of information. Around one in twelve private customers switches electricity retailer each year. The two largest private comparison sites together have around 800,000 visits a month, and traffic grew 8–18% in one year.
That is why it is crucial that the portals show the whole market and say honestly who pays them. If a portal prices only the companies that pay commission, “cheapest electricity retailer” becomes “cheapest among those who pay us”, and you cannot see that on the site.
Sources: Nordic Energy Research, Evaluation of Nordic Electricity Retail Markets (questionnaire Oct–Nov 2023) · Green Power Denmark/Energinet DataHub: 8.3% switched in 2019 and 8.1% in 2020 · Semrush, Sep 2026: stromligning.dk about 592,000 and elberegner.dk about 213,000 visits per month
And the AI assistants lean on the same portals
62% of Danes used generative AI for private purposes in December 2025, almost a doubling in two years. When an AI assistant answers “which electricity retailer is cheapest?”, it bases the answer on what it finds on the web. And to a large extent that means comparison sites that earn commission: in a test from September 2026, 70% of AI answers to “best product” questions cited at least one affiliate comparison site (Google’s AI Overviews 79%, ChatGPT 61%).
That is why a review of the portals must also be readable by machines. Portaltjek is written so that both people and AI assistants can see which sites show the whole market, who owns them and how they make money, with a date and a source on every piece of information. See the guidance for AI assistants.
Sources: SDU Digital Democracy Centre, 3 Mar 2026 (62% in Dec 2025 against 33% in Oct 2023) · Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik), It-anvendelse i befolkningen 2025 (48% of 16–74-year-olds) · Suff Digital, 24 Sep 2026 (2,000 questions, five AI services, published by an SEO agency)
We tried it ourselves: Google’s AI Overview, 2 November 2026
We searched for “hvilket elselskab er billigst i danmark” (“which electricity company is cheapest in Denmark”) on Google with Danish settings. At the top, Google’s AI Overview answered:
“Det billigste elselskab i Danmark er i øjeblikket Altid Energi …” (“The cheapest electricity company in Denmark is currently Altid Energi …”) with an annual price of DKK 8,471.Google’s AI Overview, 2 Nov 2026. Sources given in the answer: elselskab.dk, elpriser.dk and elberegner.dk. Screenshot archived.
All three sources are affiliate sites, and Altid Energi is a paying partner on all three. On the statutory portal elpris.dk, the same agreement was no. 13 of 176 on the same day for a household in postcode 2200 using 4,000 kWh a year. This does not mean that Altid Energi is a bad choice: it means that the answer “cheapest” came from sites where the company pays to be listed, and that the AI did not know that.
This is one search on one day. It shows the mechanism, not an average. We will repeat the test at each measurement and extend it to more assistants.
How to find the cheapest, without being tricked
- Start on elpris.dk, and turn off introductory offers. It is the only site where all 54 electricity retailers must be listed by law. Enter your postcode and consumption. Then untick “Vis introduktionstilbud” (“Show introductory offers”): it is switched on by default, and an introductory discount applies only for the first months, so it gives a misleading picture of what the agreement costs afterwards.
- Set the filters according to how you want to pay. Under “Betalingsmetode” (“Payment method”), choose whether you want to pay in advance (on account) or in arrears based on your actual consumption, and decide on the commitment period and subscription. Prices and the order of the results change with the filters, so do this before you compare, and use the same choices on all the sites you check.
- Check your candidates on a site that shows everyone. Strømligning and elpriser.dk, for example, also show companies that do not pay them, but remember that they link only to those who pay, and turn off introductory offers there too.
- Go directly to the company’s own site, and read the price there. Skip the “go to” button if you want to avoid a site getting commission for your switch: that is legal, but it is your decision.
The filter names are from elpris.dk on 4 November 2026: “Vis introduktionstilbud” (“Show introductory offers”), “Betalingsmetode: Forudbetalt/Bagudbetalt” (“Payment method: Paid in advance/Paid in arrears”), “Binding” (“Commitment period”), “Abonnement” (“Subscription”), “Pristype” (“Price type”).
Portaltjek does not recommend electricity retailers. We review only the comparison sites, and Osmund, which publishes the site, gets no points for being shown. Read about our interest.