Finland’s gas market is changing as the wholesale and retail natural gas markets open to competition on 1 January 2020 under EU internal market rules and Finland’s Natural Gas Market Act.
The market will also become more diverse as natural gas arrives from the Baltic countries through the new Balticconnector pipeline, alongside imports through the Imatra border point.
No effect on connection agreements
In the new market, gas sales and network services are separated. The local distribution system operator is responsible for transporting gas and measuring consumption—the network service provided to the customer—and bills for it. The service continues under the customer’s existing network service or supply agreement.
Customers with meters read remotely every day can tender their gas procurement and choose a gas product from their existing supplier or a new gas retailer.
Retailers operating in the market must be registered and have agreements with other market participants—the transmission system operator with system responsibility and a shipper—to enable gas delivery to customers.
The retailer’s invoice covers the gas supplied and, in future, its transmission from the transmission network to the distribution network.
Changing retailer or gas product requires a new sales agreement, ending the previous one. The current sales or supply agreement remains valid if the customer does not enter into a new sales agreement.
Billing based on gross calorific value
Under EU rules, from 1 January 2020 gas consumption will be measured and billed using gross calorific value instead of the previously used net calorific value.
Using gross calorific value, one cubic metre of gas contains 1.1088 times as much heat energy as when calculated using net calorific value.
In practice, the gas unit price (€/MWh) falls by 10.88%, while consumption measured in MWh rises by 10.88%. The change therefore has no effect on the cost of using gas.
However, 2019 prices cannot be compared directly with 2020 prices without first converting them to gross calorific value.
Gas taxation remains unchanged during 2020 and continues to use net calorific value. Gas bills will therefore show both gross and net calorific values throughout 2020. Taxes are billed by the distribution system operator.
General contract terms updated
As part of the market reform, the general contract terms approved by the Energy Authority have been updated and take effect on 1 January 2020. They apply to both new and existing agreements. No action is required.
General gas sales terms, 1 January 2020
Connection terms, 1 January 2020
Network service terms, 1 January 2020
Updated price lists take effect in January
The new price lists take effect on 1 January and can already be downloaded below:
Kotikokki 1 and Kotiliesi Fixed, 1 January 2020
Kotikulta and Bio-Kotikulta, 1 January 2020
Our customer service team will be happy to answer your questions on weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Call 020 690 027 or email asiakaspalvelu@aurisenergia.fi.
The SKFlow extranet is available through our website
SKFlow users can view contract and consumption information for each consumption point and easily access details of their latest bills.
To sign in, you need your customer number and consumption point number, found on your latest bill. If your customer account has several consumption points, entering one consumption point number is enough.
Access the service—asiakas.suomenkaasuenergia.fi
Gas in the energy system of the future
Natural gas is increasingly complemented by renewable gas as the supply of and demand for domestically and locally produced biogas grow.
The clean-burning nature of gas is a major advantage in addressing climate and environmental challenges. Natural gas and biogas can eliminate particulate and other local emissions that impair air quality. Biogas has very low carbon dioxide emissions, while natural gas emissions are also considerably lower than those of other fossil fuels.
Gas is also well suited to increasingly common hybrid systems. These combine several energy sources to maximise energy and cost efficiency. Gas works well with heat pumps and solar energy, for example, and effectively balances wind power generation.