The price of stock electricity took a jump on Thursday. The headache caused by sudden increases can be prevented with a fixed-term, fixed-price contract.
The price of electricity on the exchange rose to high numbers on Thursday, when the price of a kilowatt hour quickly increased to nearly 50 cents. The biggest spike was short-lived, from seven in the morning to noon, but the above-average price continued throughout the day. Thursday’s average price settled at 15.65 cents per kilowatt hour.
The price spike was particularly affected by the practically complete absence of wind power, and in addition, Olkiluoto’s reactors 2 and 3 are under maintenance at the same time. In Sweden, two nuclear power plant units are also being serviced in the spring, and there is a limitation in the electricity transmission connection between the countries.
On Friday, the price of electricity stabilized as production coincided better with consumption. The hourly prices of stock exchange electricity were at their highest in the range of 13–15 cents per kilowatt hour.
From a year or two ago, the long-term fluctuations in the average price of electricity on the stock exchange have settled down to a more even 6-7 cents per kilowatt-hour in February-April this year. Because of this, the prices of fixed-term, fixed-price contracts have also decreased.
In electricity price futures, it seems that the price of electricity will decrease in May–June. After that, the price goes up steadily as the weather cools down. In futures, the April price level will not be exceeded until the end of this year.
The cheapest contracts already a good six cents
The cheapest fixed-term contracts are Electrical comparison including short clips of a few months at the moment. For example Vihreya Älyenergia Oy offers a short three-month contract at 6.25 cents per kilowatt-hour. A one-and-a-half-year contract comes from the same company for 7.90 cents per kilowatt-hour, a 12-month contract for 8.80 cents. Glow Energy offers a six-month contract for 7.70 cents per kilowatt hour. Monthly fees vary from 2.90 euros to 3.50 euros.
Larger energy companies such as waterfall and Helen offer slightly more expensive contracts. Helen’s fixed-term basic electricity contract is valid until September 30, 2025 at a price of 8.10 cents per kilowatt hour and a monthly payment of 4.00 euros. Vattenfall’s 24-month contract costs 8.80 cents per kilowatt hour.
Power companies offer 0.44–0.65 cents per kilowatt hour as margins for exchange electricity contracts. In addition, there are contracts that offer, in addition to a fixed basic price, a live usage effect according to the electricity exchange, which rewards the user for consuming electricity in cheap hours of the day, or reciprocally brings additional costs for expensive hours. The kilowatt-hour price of these contracts varies from 7.40 cents to 10.00 cents.