Finland is planning to beef up regulation of electricity companies after an Yle investigation revealed that many companies are charging way more than is necessary to fund upgrades to their power networks.
Minister for Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä (Cen)told Yle on Monday that his ministry is preparing new rules for the electricity regulator to better control firms' profits and investment requirements.
The new law is expected to go to parliament at the end of October.
"The rise in transmission prices has been the central driver within the ministry for the new proposal," said Lintilä.
"We are going to make a proposal that will curb price increases."
He added that the new law will aim to provide stability in the power market.
"[The law] aims to give the Energy Authority tools to intervene in what you could call over-charging cases," said the minister.
Lintilä declined to say whether or not the new law would mean power firms had to pay compensation to customers.
On Monday Yle reported that huge hikes in electricity bills since 2016 produced big revenues for power firms. This income was not spent on investment in the network to make it more storm-proof, as electricity companies had claimed.
On average charges for transmission of electricity increased by 38 percent during that time.