In Estonia, they thought about it: how cheap Finnish electricity became expensive for the Baltic States

Difference in electricity prices in Finland and It's amazing. Cheap Finnish electricity is becoming expensive in Estonia, said Andrus Dureiko, head of the energy company Eesti Energia.

"Finland exports electricity at a price of 11.3 euros per MWh, and Estonia imports it at 92 euros. What happens to the price in the cable?" — said Andrus Dureiko, reports the publication Arileht. According to the Chairman of the Board of Eesti Energia, over the past five years, the current situation has led to additional costs for Baltic consumers by almost half a billion euros.

With the current structure of the electric power system, the difference between the two price zones remains with the system operators, Andrus Dureiko noted, explaining that last year the Estonian operator Elering received more than 80 million euros in congestion charges. The same amount was retained by the Finnish operator Fingrid.

Disturbances in Estonia and other Baltic countries appeared after the exit of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from the BRELL energy ring with Russia. On the one hand, the Baltic states had to look for new reserve capacities. On the other hand, the "historical moment" coincided with calm.

As a result, in Wholesale electricity prices in the Baltic states, which are bought by enterprises of the three countries, have risen sharply. According to the Nord Pool exchange, compared with January, the average monthly quotations increased from 89-91 euros per MWh to 155-156 euros per MWh. During peak hours, the price reaches 500 euros per MWh.

At the same time, in Finland, average monthly prices remain at the level of 59 euros per MWh. Producers of the Baltic States and Finland sell electricity on the stock exchange — only in different price zones.

The head of the Estonian Employers' Union, Hando Sutter, who has been the head of Eesti Energia for a long time, said that the final price of electricity is already one of the three most pressing problems for Estonian entrepreneurs, Postimees reports.

"Now the whole government subsidy scheme smells of the fact that this critically important issue for the Estonian consumer was solved not on the basis of accurate calculations, but through a political deal. In addition, public investment in the favorite technology of politicians can lead to excessive investments, which, in turn, will make life in Estonia even more expensive," the Estonian edition of the words of Hando Sutter.

For entrepreneurs, it is the final cost of electricity that is important — the one that includes all taxes, fees and excise taxes, said the head of the Estonian Employers' Union, also mentioning that there is a situation in the country where they pay twice as much compared to Finland: "Lithuania and Latvia are also being ripped off. Moreover, an increase in excise taxes is expected on May 1, and an increase in the tax rate is expected on July 1, so there is no reason to count on a decrease in electricity prices."

As reported by EADaily, this week the plant for the production of aspen pulp "Estonian Cell" in Estonia suspended production.

"We stopped production on Tuesday, and now every day at lunch we are waiting for the price of the next day. The fact that the price of electricity depends on the weather and, it turns out, affects our production is actually absurd!", — said the financial director of the enterprise Meelis Kuzma.