In Finland, we will switch to quartet measurement and pricing in the spring of 2025.
The change will especially affect the lives of Finns who have exchange electricity, when the pricing of exchange electricity changes from hourly prices to quart prices, informs Waterfall.
“If a customer wants to optimize their consumption according to prices, it is important to focus on the average price of a certain period instead of individual quarts”, Vattenfall’s business expert Aino Tanhua says in the announcement.
For example: if you turn on the sauna for three hours, the main thing is the average price of electricity for three hours instead of one or two more expensive hours.
According to Tanhua, we may see even more extreme electricity prices in the future in Finland.
“It is possible that quart prices are really negative or high at certain moments. On the other hand, the average price of electricity on a monthly or annual level will not deviate much from the current one. In addition, peak prices may be aimed at shorter periods than at present, making it easier to avoid them in the future,” Tanhua opens.
For those with a fixed-price electricity contract, the upcoming change will not be big. In the future, electricity consumption will be reported every 15 minutes, and quarter reporting can be seen in various consumption monitoring services.
The reason for the change
The reason behind the change is the need to measure and price electricity production and consumption even more precisely due to fluctuating wind and solar power.
“Vartti metering and pricing therefore enable better consumption control and thereby a more stable electricity network in Finland, the Nordic countries and the whole of Europe. The change is also required by EU legislation,” Tanhua says in the press release.
All consumers’ hourly metering equipment will be changed to quarter meter by replacing the old meter with new remote metering equipment by the end of 2028.