This is how much the price of electricity can rise when Caruna changes ownership

Spanish company Iberdrola announced on Tuesday that it would buy an 80 percent stake in Finland’s largest electricity grid company From Caruna. A US private equity investor will give up their 40 percent stake KKR and Canadian Ontario Teachers´ Pension Plan.

Nordic owners, i.e. the pension company How much and Swedish AMF retain a total of 20 percent of the company.

In Espoo, electricity is cheap

According to Sähköhinta.com, in 2025, the basic charge for electricity transmission in the area of ​​the Caruna electricity network was 29.71 euros per month.

The fee was the fourth most expensive of the electricity network companies operating in Finland. Even more expensive was the basic fee With Savon Voimaverkko, In Kajave and With the energy of Lake Finland. The companies operate in less populated areas than Caruna, which increases the costs of electricity distribution.

The average basic fee was about half cheaper than Caruna’s basic fee, 14.85 euros per month.

Operating in the separate areas of Espoo, Kauniainen, Kirkkonummi and Joensuu Caruna in Espoo however, the basic fee for electricity transmission was only 7.34 euros per month.

The energy fee was also almost double at Caruna compared to Caruna Espoo. At Caruna it was 5.26 cents per kilowatt hour and at Caruna Espoo 2.66 cents per kilowatt hour.

The director responsible for energy networks of the Energy Agency Veli-Pekka Saajon according to Espoo, electricity transmission prices will not rise immediately, but the situation is different in the Caruna region.

Increases for roughly a year

Caruna has had a deficit of just under 160 million euros in 2024.

If the company has a deficit, it has collected less income with its electricity transmission fees than the authorities allow, and in that case the company can raise its prices. In Finland, however, the network operator is allowed to increase its payments related to the distribution and transmission of electricity by a maximum of 8 percent per year, regardless of the size of the deficit.

Since the Energy Agency does not yet have the figures for 2025, Saajo cannot say how much Caruna can raise its prices.

“The calculation for the year 2025 will be completed in the fall, but it is clear that the company has started to eliminate the deficit. I believe that the deficit is still as much as 100 million left,” he estimated.

If Caruna were to increase its fees by the 8 percent per year allowed by the increase ceiling, Saajo estimates that the increases in fees could roughly continue for about another year.

Couch company due to high price increases

Caruna has been in the news a lot in recent years due to the company’s aggressive price increases. The uproar that sparked public and political outrage was created when a company operating in a monopoly position aggressively increased its prices in order to pass the investment costs of the electricity network directly to consumers – while minimizing its taxes to Finland.

Caruna has made several price increases, the most significant of which was an average increase of 27 percent in 2016.

We asked Saajo about the company’s historical price increases, but the information was not available during the Energy Agency’s holiday period.

It is not very easy for electricity network companies to raise prices arbitrarily, and according to Saajo, Caruna’s change of ownership will not have much of an effect on the amount of the increases.

On the other hand, the company can decide how to use the accumulated deficit.

“In principle, the change of ownership does not affect our methods, but the owner can decide on what schedule and how he wants to use the deficit, or possibly not use it,” Saajo points out.