Nordic power exchange NordPool has reported that the price of electricity will leap to a record high on Friday.
At its peak, the kilowatt-hour (kWh) price will hit 2.35 euros (including VAT) between 7pm to 8pm. On Thursday the highest spot price stood at a comparatively lower 47 cents per kWh, which was still much higher than recent averages.
According to Maarit Uusitalo, unit manager at national grid operator Fingrid, the average price of electricity will be unusually high on Friday, at 890 euros per megawatt (before VAT) or 89 cents per kWh.
Due to increased demand for electrical heating amid Finland's extremely cold temperatures, Fingrid has urged customers to conserve electricity all week and Uusitalo repeated that sentiment.
"Normal customers should save electricity as much as possible. If you can avoid using electricity [on Friday] or at least reschedule when you do. Prices will be a bit more reasonable after 10pm, although it's not even cheap then," Uusitalo said.
Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Kai Mykkänen (NCP), also called on people to save energy.
He suggested avoiding use of electricity between the hours of 5pm to 10pm on Friday, if at all possible.
Exceptional situation
Uusitalo noted there was a very exceptional weather situation taking place.
"This was one of the coldest starts to a new year ever. It's not very often that all of Finland sees so many consecutive cold days. This happens less than once a decade," she said.
According to Uusitalo, when there are long stretches of very cold weather, the structural temperatures of buildings also decrease and it takes more electricity to keep them heated after extended cold spells than it does at the beginning of a cold snap.
However, there is another reason behind the sudden spot price hike — the supply of electricity has decreased due to a number of failures of Finnish power plants.
For example, power production was either partially or completely stopped at plants on the west coast cities of Pori, Vaasa and in Helsinki.
According to an estimate by electricity provider Väre, the high spot prices will slightly decrease over the weekend and then go down significantly next week, as temperatures are expected to be milder.
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