Many Finnish consumers are upset about electricity firm Caruna's plans to raise electricity distribution rates by up to 27 percent. Some customers could see their electricity bills rise as much as by 50 percent due to the price hike.
At least one consumer protection agency is trying to get the Caruna electricity company to reconsider its recently-announced price increase plans.
However, it appears that some consumers want to take electricity matters into their own hands, and for the first time are seriously considering going solar.
Price hike plans
Anu Areva, the CEO of Salo-based solar panel company Areva Solar, said that there are many people who considered the idea of installing solar panels but hesitated. She says Caruna's price hike plans were the final straw for many.
Last year Areva Solar sold more than 7,500 photovoltaic panels, and this year sales are expected to double, Areva said.
Similarly the Pirkanmaa-based power solution firm Finnwind, which markets renewable energy products, predicts its sales to increase by two hundred percent this year.
Finnwind sales chief Matias Peräinen said he's noticed an uptick in solar panel inquiries from consumers.
"It's hard to say, how much Caruna influenced them, but we've received an exceptional number of questions from consumers in areas served by Caruna," Peräinen said.
Bright future
A representative from the Green Energy Finland firm in Lappeenranta also said that their outlook for sales growth looks good. Many of their recent customers mentioned the transfer price increase, the representative told Yle.
Jukka Leskelä, director of the Finnish Energy Industries lobby organisation, said he isn't surprised that the price hike plan has helped the solar industry, but there must be other reasons, too.
Price is one factor driving consumers toward solar, but Leskelä said that innovations in ease of installation have also helped people make the switch.
"Anyone can install panels onto a house," he said, predicting that in future, solar powered homes will be as common as central heating for tens of thousands of consumers.
"[Installing solar power in your home] doesn't need any state aid system, people acquire solar panels when they find them at a good price," Leskelä said.
Green Energy Finland's solar products chief Mikko Pääkkönen said that solar panel system prices have dropped dramatically over the past five years.
"They have at least been halved," Pääkkönen estimated.
Finland trails Sweden, Denmark
While Finnish solar power firms say they're enjoying increased interest, Finland lags behind its Scandinavian neighbours in terms of alternative energy, according to Finnwind's Peräinen.
Currently just over one thousand single-family homes are powered by solar panels in Finland.
Most solar-powered homes are found in single family homes and summer cottages.
Increasingly however, medium sized businesses, farms and housing cooperatives are also mulling whether to flip the switch to solar energy.