The safety margin of the electrical system has decreased, he says Fingrid’s head of strategic network planning Mikko Heikkilä In the Markkinaraati program.
It exposes you to larger electricity price fluctuations than before, such as we saw on Thursday. On Thursday evening, the price of electricity rose to more than 30 cents and in a single hour close to 50 cents.
By the reduction of the reserve, Heikkilä means how easily the power plant capacity that can be started has been removed. It has made the electricity system tighter than before.
“In other words, burning capacity based on fossil energy sources has been closed as unprofitable. And now, in our system, these faults of nuclear power plants, which are rare, are then more strongly reflected (in prices)”, says Heikkilä.
Even now, the spike in electricity prices is caused by several maintenance works, and the biggest one The power of industry has had to shut down the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant’s second reactor due to a generator failure. According to the power of industry, the fault has been located and the company estimates that electricity production will continue on September 29.
The power plant also had to be shut down last August due to a fault. Energy industry energy market leader Pekka Salomaa however, emphasizes that in international comparison, Finnish nuclear power plants are “top class” in international comparison.
“The utilization rates are really good,” says Salomaa.
Currently, electricity futures predict that after November the price of electricity including value added tax would rise from about six cents to about ten cents in February 2025.
“With these prospects, the average price level is nothing dramatic. But really, just like last winter, there can be individual really expensive lessons”, says Salomaa.
In recent years, consumers have noticed how the price of electricity on the exchange is cheaper in the summer months and more expensive in the winter months. Still, winter often wants to surprise the electricity user as well as the motorist, he estimates Consumers’ Union general secretary Juha Beurling-Pomoell.
“Unfortunately, I believe that the same phenomenon is also here,” says Beurling-Pomoell.
According to him, it is ultimately about consumers’ risk tolerance, but that risk tolerance among consumers has weakened in recent years.
“We also know from our surveys and studies that the proportion of Finns who practically have no financial buffers is growing all the time. There is no such possibility to suddenly pay a significantly higher electricity bill,” adds Beurling-Pomoell.
In Finland, the price of electricity is also affected by the price level of the entire Nordic region and, more broadly, also of Europe. For example, in the winter of 2022–2023, when natural gas flows from Russia to Europe were significantly reduced and energy prices skyrocketed, they also affected prices in Finland.
In August, the EU announced that it had managed to fill 90% of the natural gas reserves well in advance of the early November deadline.
Fact
Market narrate
The market council is discussing the electricity market this week. How can an electricity user prepare for next winter? How much does electricity cost in the fall? And what kind of electricity contract should you take?
Pekka Salomaa, the energy market director of Energiaindustri, Mikko Heikkilä, Fingrid’s strategic network planning manager, and Juha Beurling-Pomoell, general secretary of the Consumers’ Association, will be in discussion.
Markkinaraad is hosted by Kauppalehti editor Ossi Kurki-Suonio.