Consumers seek better electricity price forecasts amid market fluctuations in Finland

Consumers currently have access to electricity pricing information only on a day-to-day basis, with hourly spot prices for the next day published the previous afternoon. According to Pertti Järventausta, a professor of electrical power engineering at the University of Tampere, consumers have less foresight about electricity prices than electricity companies do. He believes that these predictive insights should be accessible to customers as well, which would also benefit society by helping to smooth out consumption peaks.

Some market players are starting to provide this type of pricing information. For instance, Väre, an electricity provider, now offers price forecasts for upcoming days, which Järventausta views as a positive development.

The next day’s spot price in the electricity market is determined by bids submitted the previous day. However, electricity sellers can forecast prices for a few days or weeks ahead, incorporating variables such as weather forecasts that impact electricity consumption and production.

Järventausta criticizes the current system, stating that the risks associated with price fluctuations in market electricity products are entirely borne by consumers. He argues that if consumers had access to more extensive predictive data, they could make informed decisions about when to conserve or increase their energy use, potentially saving on electricity costs.

The importance of price information is becoming more pronounced, especially after last winter, which saw hourly electricity prices drop to zero or rise to around two euros. Customers now should also receive compensation for issues caused by power plant failures, similar to the compensation given for long outages in distribution networks.

In light of these challenges, upcoming changes to electricity market regulations could introduce new technical solutions, enabling better utilization of remote-read electricity meters for scheduling energy use. Järventausta suggests that smart meters are nearly universal among consumers and could be leveraged to optimize electricity consumption further.