Energy situation and financial support for electricity

The value-added tax on electricity has been lowered from 24 to 10 per cent between 1 December 2022 and 30 April 2023. The reduction does not apply to transmission fees.

You may be entitled to the tax credit if the electricity bills for your permanent home exceed EUR 2,000 between 1 January and 30 April 2023. The tax credit does not cover the cost of electricity transmission. The tax credit is 60 per cent of those electricity expenses that exceed EUR 2,000. 

Applications for the tax credit should be submitted to the Finnish Tax Administration.

• Tax credit for electricity | Finnish Tax Administration

Financial support for electricity is available to households that cannot fully make use of the fixed-term tax credit for electricity due to their low income.

Applications for fixed-term support should be submitted to Kela.

• Temporary assistance with electricity costs | Kela 

 The reimbursement will be paid automatically to the consumers entitled to it as a deduction to their electricity bill made by the electricity company. The reimbursement does not cover transmission of electricity.

The retroactive reimbursement for electricity costs will be paid per metering point to those end users whose electricity price in their electricity contract exceeds 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, and to those end consumers who have an electricity contract based on spot prices.

The reimbursement will be paid over four winter months for 50 per cent of the part of consumers’ electricity bills that exceeds the threshold of EUR 90/month. The maximum reimbursement is EUR 700 per month.

The first instalment of the reimbursement will be based on electricity consumption in November–December 2022. The second instalment will be based on consumption in January 2023. In the second instalment, January consumption will be doubled, which means that the reimbursement will be paid for four months altogether.

• Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 2 March 2023 I Acts on retroactive reimbursement for electricity costs and extended payment periods of electricity bills enter into force next week

The reimbursement is intended for housing companies that use electricity for heating and that pay for the costs of that electricity. It is also available to housing companies that use building-specific heat pumps. 

The lump-sum reimbursement is paid retroactively in one instalment. It is available for those months when the housing company has an exchange energy contract (meaning that the price of electricity is based on the market price), or if the electricity price in the housing company’s contract exceeds 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. The reimbursement only covers those electricity costs that are subject to value added tax. It cannot be used for electricity tax or transmission fees, for example.

The reimbursement covers costs exceeding EUR 90 per dwelling. The maximum reimbursement is half the amount exceeding the EUR 90 threshold, however no more than EUR 700 per dwelling per month. In total, the maximum reimbursement available is EUR 2,800 per dwelling.
The reimbursement is calculated in two parts. The first part is calculated based on actual consumption and the price of electrical energy in November and December 2022. The second part is calculated by multiplying the consumption and price for January 2023 by two.

Housing companies can submit their applications starting on 17 April using the application service provided by ARA, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland.

At the customer’s request, retail sellers of electricity must extend the payment period of consumption-related electricity bills from 1 January to 30 April 2023. The extension does not apply to transmission of electricity.

Consumer customers will be granted an extended payment period of up to 120 days from the original payment date of the bill. The request to extend the payment period must be submitted before the payment date of the bill. No costs may be charged for extending the payment period and no interest may be charged for the extended payment period. 

Businesses may be granted an extended payment period of up to 60 days. The electricity company may charge an annual interest rate of 1.53 per cent from a business for the extended payment period.

• Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 2 March 2023 I Acts on retroactive reimbursement for electricity costs and extended payment periods of electricity bills enter into force next week