Expensive batteries are sold to Finns without contracts

Home expensive battery systems that can be installed are sold with promises of profits from the reserve market, even though the companies do not yet have the necessary contracts in place.

The idea of ​​the companies is that they sell batteries to households, which the company manages remotely. Electricity is sold from batteries when it is expensive and batteries are charged when electricity is cheap. This way, when the demand for electricity fluctuates, the company and the home battery owner get a profit.

At least the Danish Emaldo battery systems are marketed on the websites of several battery sellers, promising large annual returns from participating in balancing the power grid in the reserve market.

In reality, Emaldo’s batteries are not yet connected to the reserve market in Finland.

Finland the reserve market is maintained by the grid company Fingrid. Emaldo has not entered into the necessary agreement with Fingrid to operate in the reserve market, confirms Fingrid’s specialist Jukka Kakkonen.

“Emaldo has also not told the public that they would use a service provider that would bring their batteries to the reserve market, that is, that another company would be Emaldo’s operator on the reserve supplier list,” adds Kakkonen.

More precisely, Kakkonen does not take a position on the patterns of an individual company.

HS:n on Monday the published article reviewed the battery market’s wild profit promises. In this case, Kärkikampantit, which sells Emaldo’s batteries, told the reporter that Emaldo already had an agreement with Fingrid.

Owner of Top Partners Arto Hautamäki specifies on Wednesday to HS that the agreement between Emaldo and Fingrid will not come into effect until later.

“We have been told that Emaldo will sign a contract with Fingrid when 60 batteries have been installed,” says Hautamäki.

According to him, the necessary amount will be filled soon.

Before as batteries are on the reserve market, Emaldo has promised to pay customers a replacement price, says Hautamäki. However, he does not specify whether the price coincides with the given yield estimate.

After the interview, Emaldo informs that the compensation price is 150 euros per month, which is 33 euros less than the yield estimate given for the 15kWh battery.

On the websites of Kärkipartners and many other companies that sell Emaldo’s batteries, there is a statement that an agreement with Fingrid would have been signed already on October 1.

“There was information like this somewhere, but let’s send a message to the marketing side that it should be updated,” says Hautamäki.

Fingrid’s getting on the reserve supplier list requires that the company has completed adjustment tests in at least one of its reserve locations.

The company that operates the electricity supply contracts with Fingrid, and it is not necessarily the same as the company that manufactured or supplied the battery.

Check the list to see if the seller of your battery or the operator indicated by it has an agreement with Fingrid.

of the reserve market other companies whose batteries cannot yet participate in the reserve market are also riding on the benefits.

“Same types of actors have come across some. Citizens who have been offered batteries have come to us to ask if the profit promises are credible, and the matter has been revealed,” says Fingrid’s Kakkonen.

In HS’s previous story, a merchant selling Chinese batteries promised returns from the reserve market, even though the contract with Fingrid through the operator was only “coming”.

“This is new and technically complex. Not many people have yet succeeded in this in Finland, and the sales people are clearly ahead of the companies’ abilities,” Kakkonen sums up.

The consumer should be very careful about what he buys because the systems are quite expensive. For example, a 15 kilowatt-hour battery with inverters and installations costs around 8,000–15,000 euros.

Update 21.11. 8:10 a.m.: Added information from Emaldo’s press release, specifying that customers are paid 150 euros per month in compensation.