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Published: 7 December 2017

Energy prices grew in the third quarter

In the third quarter, prices of energy went up for nearly all energy products. According to Statistics Finland's data, only the prices of energy peat and forest chippings decreased slightly year-on-year. The increase in the prices was caused by higher prices of imported fuels and tax increases at the start of the year.

Fuel Prices in Electricity Production

The rise in the world market price of oil in the third quarter was also reflected in the prices of oil products imported to Finland. This was also visible in the consumer prices of liquid fuels that increased clearly from September last year to September 2017. The price of motor gasoline rose by five per cent, diesel oil by six per cent and fuel oil by 13 per cent.

The price of coal rose clearly at the end of 2016, but this year, the rise has stopped and the price has declined slightly. The tax-free price of coal used in electricity production was 34 per cent higher in September this year than one year ago in September. The price of natural gas made a slight downturn in the third quarter after rising for a little over a year. However, the tax-free price of natural gas used in electricity production was 14 per cent higher in September than one year previously.

The taxable prices of coal and natural gas used in heat production were raised by an increase in excise duties at the beginning of the year and by higher tax-free prices. Changes in tax-free prices influence taxable prices increasingly less due to the growing share of taxes in the prices of these fuels in the past few years. Compared to the situation one year earlier, the taxable price of hard coal used in heat production was 14 per cent higher in September and the corresponding price of natural gas 11 per cent higher. In the third quarter, the taxable price of milled peat declined by a few per cent and the price of forest chippings fell by one per cent from the respective period of last year.

Customer prices for district heat were one per cent higher in July than in July 2016 apart from detached houses where prices remained almost unchanged. The consumer price of wood pellets had also risen by one per cent from August 2016 to August 2017.

In September, the average for the system price of the Nordic electricity exchange derived from the sell and buy bids on the exchange was 25 per cent and the average for the Finnish area price was 15 per cent higher than one year previously. The prices of electricity for household customers increased by an average of seven per cent from September last year to September 2017. As clear a trend was not visible in the development of electricity prices for enterprise and corporate customers.

Source: Statistics Finland, Energy prices

Inquiries: Ville Maljanen 029 551 2691, energia@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ville Vertanen

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Energy taxes, precautionary stock fees and oil pollution fees (7.12.2017)
• Appendix table 2. Energy prices in heat production in September 2017 (7.12.2017)
• Appendix table 3. Consumer prices of heating energy in September 2017 (7.12.2017)

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Import prices of oil (7.12.2017)
• Appendix figure 2. Consumer prices of principal oil products (7.12.2017)
• Appendix figure 3. Fuel prices in heat production (7.12.2017)
• Appendix figure 4. Fuel prices in electricity production (7.12.2017)
• Appendix figure 5. Price of electricity by type of consumer (7.12.2017)
• Appendix figure 6. Average monthly spotprices at the Nord Pool Spot power exchange (7.12.2017)

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Updated 7.12.2017