Balance service fees for balance responsible parties to decrease on 1 May 2023

Fingrid will lower the balance service fees for balance responsible parties from 1 May 2023. The reason for this is a drop in the costs of power system reserves, brought about by the calming of the exceptional market situation and the expansion of the automatic frequency restoration reserve market in the Nordic countries.

As of 1 May 2023, the volume fee for generation and consumption by balance responsible parties will decrease to EUR 1.2/MWh. The decrease is approximately 30 per cent. Other balance service fees will remain unchanged.

Fingrid is responsible for managing the balance between electricity consumption and production in Finland. We maintain balance in the power system using various types of reserves purchased in different marketplaces.

Balance service fees are subject to costs from the power system reserves, which are used to keep the quality and frequency of electricity at the target level. The capacity costs of the automatic frequency restoration reserve have fallen significantly from last year’s top level. This development has been affected by the decrease in the market prices of electricity and the expansion of the automatic frequency restoration reserve capacity market from a solely national market to a pan-Nordic one. Unlike other Nordic countries, Fingrid can only purchase aFRR down-regulation capacity from other Nordic countries and, correspondingly, other Nordic transmission system operators can only purchase aFRR up-regulation capacity from Finland.

Changes in electricity market conditions will lead to greater uncertainty in balance service costs. The balance service fees will be valid until further notice. Both balance service fees and balance service costs are monitored, and fees will be revised to cover changes in operating costs over time.

Further information:

Jani Piipponen, Manager, Balance Services, Fingrid, tel. +358 30 3954186
Email addresses are in the form firstname.lastname@fingrid.fi

Prices per megawatt-hour can be converted into prices per kilowatt-hour using the following formula: EUR 1.2/MWh = EUR 0.0012/kWh = 0.12 cents/kWh