Electricity futures prices have seen a dramatic increase of more than 50% in October. The primary reason for this spike has been attributed to the breakage of the Balticconnector pipe and the re-emergence of tensions in the Middle East. On November 16th, the electricity futures price for January-March was almost 9.5 cents, but had dropped to just under seven cents by the same time period a week later.

Energiateollisuus ry’s director responsible for the electricity market, Pekka Salomaa, explains that future prices are not always reliable forecasts and serve only as indicators of when protections are made for a particular moment. He cautions against getting too excited about recent fluctuations in electricity prices, stating that significant fluctuations will continue to occur in the future.

According to updated hourly prices on Monday, the taxable price of stock exchange electricity will be as high as 96 cents per kilowatt hour on Tuesday. While this is higher than last winter or a year ago, it is still below pre-2018 levels. Salomaa reminds us that although the electricity supply situation in Finland has improved since last year, there are still many factors that can affect pricing and availability.

In recent weeks, stock electricity prices have been relatively high due to seasonal factors and temperature fluctuations. The average price of electricity on the exchange exceeded 10 cents per kilowatt hour on most days during the third week of November (November 11-17), with a daily average price of no less than 16.3 cents on Thursday 16th November. Interestingly, despite these high temperatures at night, when it is typically cheaper to produce electricity using renewable sources like wind and solar power, exchange electricity did not drop significantly even then.

Salomaa advises consumers to carefully consider their options when choosing an electricity contract. While fixed contracts without consumption effects may seem like a good deal at first glance, they come with additional risks due to uncertainty around consumption patterns and demand peaks throughout different times of day or seasons