People in Finland were able to reduce their electricity consumption in January

People in Finland continued using electricity sparingly in January. Adjusted for temperature, the saving was five per cent in comparison with the same period last year. In 2022, electricity consumption decreased by about six per cent in total.

Despite the mild and windy conditions in January and lower electricity prices on the exchange, people in Finland succeeded in cutting their electricity consumption in January by five per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. This figure takes into account the impact of temperature on consumption, whereby the average temperature weighted by electricity consumption better corresponds to the realised figure in January last year. The total electricity consumption in 2022 was six per cent lower than in 2021. The decrease in consumption was especially apparent towards the end of the year when electricity shortages began to be discussed more widely.

“People in Finland have done a great job of saving electricity. In particular, the reduction in electricity consumption in the winter months has made a significant contribution towards overcoming one of the most challenging periods we have ever faced in terms of the adequacy of electricity. However, it is too early to be certain that the risk of an electricity shortage will remain very low, so it is still very important for people to continue saving electricity in February during the more prolonged cold periods,” says Tuomas Rauhala, Senior Vice President, Power System Operation at Fingrid.

In addition to saving electricity, Fingrid embarked on a project in late 2022 seeking to identify ways for various organisations to be flexible with their electricity consumption when there is less electricity available. The project has already succeeded in harnessing flexibility capacity worth over 500 megawatts, which corresponds to the power output of one nuclear power plant and could substantially reduce the risk of rolling power outages.

Electricity consumption from August to December in 2021 and 2022. The figures for January compare 2022 and 2023.

*) The December figure of 7,978 and the January figure of 7,862 are temperature-adjusted.

Fingrid issued its first warnings of the risk of an electricity shortage in the late summer of 2022. At that time, three important factors were considered to affect the adequacy of electricity: the weather conditions, domestic power production capacity, including the schedule for the commissioning of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant, and electricity trading with Sweden and Estonia.

Further information:

Tuomas Rauhala, Senior Vice President, Fingrid Oyj, tel. +358 40 5064695
Markku Piironen, Specialist, Fingrid Oyj, tel. +358 40 3511718 (electricity consumption statistics)

Email addresses are in the form firstname.lastname@fingrid.fi

Further information on electricity shortages and Fingrid’s prior press releases on the adequacy of electricity >