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Spot prices drop below zero on Saturday

Negative prices will continue until 5pm.

A closeup of power lines against a blue sky.
Spot prices can drop below zero when electricity production exceeds consumption. Image: Jari Kovalainen / Yle
  • Yle News

Electricity prices plunged into negative territory on Saturday around 11am. The lowest rate of the day will occur between 3 and 4pm, when the price is set to dip to -1.99 cents per kilowatt-hour (KWh). Prices will remain negative until 5pm.

This rare pricing situation means electricity will be so cheap that consumers may effectively receive part of their transmission fees back. For example, the standard transmission fee for Caruna is 5.26 cents per KWh and 4.12 cents per KWh for Helen.

The average price for the day is 0.29 cents per kilowatt-hour. In comparison, over the past 30 days, the average price has been 2.13 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Negative electricity prices occur when production exceeds consumption. In practice, this means producers are paying consumers to use electricity. Households with spot price contracts will directly benefit from these unusually low prices during the affected hours.