Electric|According to the market court, the companies’ reasons for price increases were in accordance with the law.
Market law has rejected the consumer ombudsman’s demands for a ban on electricity price increases.
According to the Consumer Ombudsman, the electricity companies raised the prices by an unreasonable amount in the electricity contracts that are valid until the end of 2022. At that time, the energy crisis raised the wholesale prices of electricity.
The consumer representative took the actions of Vaasa Sähkö and Helen to the market court as example cases. For example, Vaasan Sähkö raised the price of electricity in the Basic Electricity contract from about 10 cents to about 30 cents per kilowatt hour.
According to market law, the companies’ reasons for price increases were in accordance with the law and they fulfilled their notification obligation. According to the market court, the procedure was not unreasonable.
Vaasa Sähkök case, the consumer advocate questioned the basis of the price increases and whether the company’s own electricity purchase costs rose as much as the prices.
The consumer ombudsman also demanded that Vaasan Sähkö and Heleni be prohibited from making any material changes to the electricity contract unilaterally. There are restrictions on this in the legislation.
According to market law, the companies had a special reason for the change and the essential change in circumstances in the fall of 2022 was independent of the companies.
In addition, the Market Court considered that it was not the legislator’s intention that the costs of acquiring electricity should correspond to the price increase notified to consumers.
Consumer representative Katri Väänänen describes in the release that the overall solution is disappointing for consumers.
The decision of the Market Court is not yet legally binding. The Consumer Ombudsman is considering whether to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.