Compensation for electricity costs and other forms of central government assistance

During the energy crisis in winter 2022–2023, the state supported households in paying exceptionally high electricity bills. Temporary forms of support included, for example, compensation for electricity costs, tax credit for electricity or assistance with electricity costs.

Compensation for electricity costs

Households and some users with business ID were entitled to a compensation for electricity costs if the price of electricity including VAT they paid exceeded 10 cents/kWh or they had an electricity contract based on spot prices .

The compensation instalments were paid retroactively based on invoices for November-December 2022 and January 2023, so consumers were refunded both or one of the instalments in accordance with a valid electricity contract. The compensation for electricity costs in January was doubled, which means that the compensation was granted for a maximum of four months. 

The compensation for electricity costs was 50% of the sales price of electricity on the electricity bill including VAT. The compensation was paid monthly for the amount that exceeds the threshold of EUR 90 and up to a maximum amount of EUR 700. Electricity companies automatically refunded the amount on customers' electricity bills. Only in exceptional cases would compensation have to be applied for separately. 

In some cases, consumers felt that they did not receive the compensation for electricity costs they were entitled to or that the amount paid was too low. They had the opportunity to submit an application to the Energy Authority to rectify an error in the payment of the compensation for electricity costs, as long as the correction had first been requested directly from the electricity company. All rectification applications have been processed and the decisions notified to the applicants. The Energy Authority resolved a total of 868 cases and obliged companies to pay a total of EUR 357,568 as compensation for electricity costs. The decisions issued have been subject to requests for an administrative review, which are still pending in April 2024.

During January-April 2023, electricity companies were also under obligation to grant consumers and undertakings additional time to pay their electricity bills on request.

Tax credit for electricity and assistance with electricity costs

If the costs of electric energy in a permanent dwelling amounted to more than EUR 2,000 in January-April 2023, the household had the opportunity to apply for a 60 per cent tax credit for electricity. Under certain conditions, the Tax Administration granted a tax credit for electricity of up to EUR 2,400.

In 2023, low-income households had the opportunity to apply for assistance with electricity costs from Kela if they could not receive a full tax credit for electricity. The amount of the assistance was 60% of the amount of the electricity costs exceeding the threshold of EUR 400. 

Temporary support was based on:

Act on the temporary retroactive compensation for electricity costs (in Finnish)
Act on the extension to the payment period of electricity bills and the temporary support to secure the liquidity of electricity companies (in Finnish)