Balance service fees of balance responsible parties to be increased from 1 March 2020

Fingrid will increase the balance service fees of balance responsible parties from 1 March 2020. The increase is due to rises in the reserve costs and in the imbalance costs that are both covered by the balance service fees.

The fees for actual production and consumption will change from 1 March 2020. The consumption fee increases from EUR 0.22/MWh to EUR 0.27/MWh and the production fee increases from EUR 0.14MWh to EUR 0.17/MWh. The average increase is 22%. Other balance service fees will remain unchanged.

The volume of clean and intermittent electricity production has increased in Finland and more reserves are needed to balance the electricity system. During 2020, Fingrid will acquire automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) for a greater number of hours compared to previous years. Additionally, the increase in the balance service fees is used to cover the increased imbalance costs of the second half of 2019 and the former rise in the reserve costs.

The production and consumption fees are used to cover the reserve and imbalance costs allocated to balance service. The reserve costs include the total costs of Frequency Containment Reserve for Normal Operation and automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve. Additionally, the reserve costs include 10% of the costs of Frequency Containment Reserve for Disturbances and Fast Disturbance Reserves. The imbalance costs include 50% of the costs that are caused by the imbalances between Finland and the other Nordic countries.

The impact of the increase on the final consumer is 25 cents per year (household user with an electricity consumption of 5,000 kWh/year).

Further information:

Jani Piipponen, Development Manager, tel. +358 30 395 4186