The power charge for electricity flared up – Now the Energy Agency is speaking: Others have paid more

The regulation on electricity pricing, which is currently being prepared by the Energy Agency, has aroused concern and criticism.

The power charge for electricity transmission included in the draft regulation and its possible effects on the costs of small house residents have been criticized from the Homeowners Association and politicians’ circles.

According to the Energy Agency’s proposal, the small customer’s power payment would be based on the highest single power peak measured during 15 minutes of the month. A fee would be charged for power exceeding five kilowatts. The purpose of the power charge is to smooth out electricity consumption peaks.

We asked the Energy Agency whether the change could lead to unreasonable costs for residents of small houses who, in addition to a sauna and household appliances, may also have electric heating, a hot water heater and an electric car.

“If choosing a power-charged product has a large impact on the payments of an individual customer or customer group, it speaks to the fact that the costs incurred from using their electricity network with the current payment structures have been passed on to be paid by some other customer groups”, Energy Agency analyst Jaakko Kennilä tells.

According to Kennilä, the payments of other customer groups would decrease in that situation.

“As a whole, the payments would be more granular for those who cause the most additional costs to the network, for example through the charging of an unguided electric car.”

According to Kennilä, the network companies will continue to offer small customers alternative basic fee-based products alongside the power fee product, and the increase ceiling according to the Electricity Market Act limits that the fees per customer group can increase by a maximum of eight percent each year.

One thing is ignored “unintentionally or on purpose”

The regulation of the Energy Agency is supposed to be completed during January. Kennilä did not take a position on whether there may be changes to the power payment model in the final regulation.

“The agency takes into account the perspectives presented in the statements in the preparation. These are reviewed, especially taking into account the goals of the legislation for pricing.”

Executive director of the Homeowners Association Marju Silander has estimated that the limit of five kilowatts has caused a lot of concern among the residents of small houses. According to him, the limit is already low from the point of view of ordinary everyday life and, for example, the simultaneous use of a sauna, household appliances and a water heater could lead to significant expenses. Charging an electric car would make the situation even worse.

Kennilä estimates that the fact that the regulation does not affect the fees collected from customers as a whole is sometimes ignored, either unintentionally or on purpose, in the discussion about the power charge.

“The power fee threshold that sparked the discussion has seemed to have become a psychological limit below which the power used in so-called everyday life should always be able to keep. A higher threshold would mean a higher basic fee,” he says.

Does the basic fee decrease?

According to Kennilä, the power-charged product can be compared to the currently generally offered universal transmission product, where only the basic charge and the energy charge are paid.

“With the universal transmission product, the power demand reserved for the customer and the resulting network costs are mainly collected through the basic fee and possibly also the energy fee. That is, the user of the network already pays for the power reserved for him, but only through different payment components in a way that does not directly depend on the actual power used.”

With the power-charged product according to the draft regulation, only the five kilowatt threshold share of the power demand would be charged with the basic fee.

“Therefore, the share of the basic charge in the total charges would probably be lower than with a universal transmission product. The rest of the power used would be charged with a power charge, in which case the charges charged would be more granular based on the power used on a monthly basis.”

It is not yet known what amount of power payments the companies would introduce after the order.

“Network companies will probably develop the pricing of current products within the limits set by the increase ceiling, while possibly introducing new products alongside them with a harmonized power fee.”

Power charges for electricity transmission are already in use, but the new model is intended to harmonize the criteria for determining them. The order is supposed to enter into force on January 1, 2029.