A big change is coming to electricity pricing

The 24-hour electricity market in Finland and the rest of Europe will move to a 15-minute trading period in June 2025. The Finnish grid company Fingrid says that European grid companies and electricity exchanges have agreed on a change schedule, which has been postponed from the original plans.

In the past, the trading period in the daily market of electricity exchanges has been one hour. Quarter-quarter periods will be switched to on June 11, when the 24-hour market will trade on the electricity exchanges the day after, i.e. electricity deliveries on June 12.

Electric company Waterfall reminded earlier in December that the change would have an impact in particular to Finns who have signed an exchange-linked electricity contract. The change means that the pricing of the electricity exchange will change from hourly prices to quart prices.

Vattenfall’s business expert Aino Tanhua estimated at that time that Finland might see even more extreme electricity prices in the future.

“It is possible that quart prices are really negative or high at certain moments. On the other hand, the average price of electricity on a monthly or annual level will not deviate much from the current one. In addition, peak prices may be aimed at shorter periods than at present, making it easier to avoid them in the future,” Tanhua said.

According to Fingrid, moving to a 15-minute trading period promotes the participation of renewable energy in the electricity market and increases the efficiency and flexibility of the market.