Forecast: Electricity spot prices set to peak over festive season

Spot price spikes mean it might make sense to cook the Christmas ham in advance this year.

Christmas dinner.
Cooking Christmas dinner could be expensive, if spot price electricity is used on Christmas Eve this year. Image: Yle/Marika Lytts-Råholm
  • Yle News

A new forecast from the electricity firm Väre suggests that Christmas Eve is going to be an expensive day to have the oven on for long periods, if your electricity prices change by the hour.

The forecast suggests that the price will top 22 cents on 23 December, and 18 cents on Christmas Eve.

"There's little wind forecast for the 23rd and 24th and that raises prices," says Tommi Kontulainen from Väre. "But on Christmas Day and Boxing Day electricity prices will be very cheap, according to the latest forecast."

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The biggest single factor in electricity spot prices is wind power. The latest weather forecasts suggest that Christmas Eve will be very still, but Christmas Day will be much breezier — the Väre forecast suggests that a new record for Finnish windpower production could be possible on that day.

The forecast suggests peak wind production could hit 7,000 megawatts on Christmas Day, which is equivalent to four Olkiluoto 3 reactors.

Väre's 14-day forecasts are initial indications, with prices for any one day only confirmed the day before.

Many people in Finland buy their electricity via so-called spot price contracts, where the price changes hour by hour based on the price in the Nordic electricity markets.

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