Tales from the Electricity Market
Harjukoski, Eeva (2024)
2024
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024052917920
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024052917920
Tiivistelmä
Finland, along with the other countries in Europe, experienced an energy crisis between the period of Summer 2022 and Spring 2023. Several simultaneous global political events resulted in a significant increase of electricity prices. These events were, among many, a shift to renewable energy, reduced availability of natural gas, and increased usage of electricity.
Electricity is a necessity good. Yet, the market mechanism realizes at its purest on the electricity market. From the consumer perspective, this dualism may be hard to understand and may feel unfair. The objective of the study was to understand how Finnish household consumers perceived the electricity market after the transformational change of the society had become visible. The second target of the study was to provide a better understanding of the electricity market to the reader who is not already an expert of the topic.
The study was based on scrutiny of technical market, marketplace, consumer behaviour, and political power. Main theories and philosophies regarded in this study were economics theory, liberalism, and behavioural theory.
The method was qualitative phenomenological semi-structured interview, and the number of interviewees was 11. The household consumers were asked to reflect their thoughts on the themes related to reasons for selecting a certain electricity contract type, thoughts on the electricity market and electricity prices, knowledge on the field of electricity and the level of freedom they enjoy most.
The replies to the study questions reflected the moment in time, hence the interview cannot be generalized to cover future developments. However, the answers were valid and provided ample replies beyond the study questions. In fact, the answers dealt with a wider scope of topics than expected.
The outcome from the interviews was that household consumers seek to maintain their freedom, but needed an authority to secure their rights, they long for equal treatment on several levels, and they were not interested in knowing the electricity market related matters in detail. The electricity crisis has created a feeling of insecurity, and someone was needed to provide stability and a feeling of safety for the household consumers.
The recommendation was that a well-known, impartial authority would take the lead and be the source of reliable and simplified information. That authority should fill the void that a transformational change has caused. The study suggests Nord Pool to take the role and provides ideas how to implement that in the company’s strategy.
Electricity is a necessity good. Yet, the market mechanism realizes at its purest on the electricity market. From the consumer perspective, this dualism may be hard to understand and may feel unfair. The objective of the study was to understand how Finnish household consumers perceived the electricity market after the transformational change of the society had become visible. The second target of the study was to provide a better understanding of the electricity market to the reader who is not already an expert of the topic.
The study was based on scrutiny of technical market, marketplace, consumer behaviour, and political power. Main theories and philosophies regarded in this study were economics theory, liberalism, and behavioural theory.
The method was qualitative phenomenological semi-structured interview, and the number of interviewees was 11. The household consumers were asked to reflect their thoughts on the themes related to reasons for selecting a certain electricity contract type, thoughts on the electricity market and electricity prices, knowledge on the field of electricity and the level of freedom they enjoy most.
The replies to the study questions reflected the moment in time, hence the interview cannot be generalized to cover future developments. However, the answers were valid and provided ample replies beyond the study questions. In fact, the answers dealt with a wider scope of topics than expected.
The outcome from the interviews was that household consumers seek to maintain their freedom, but needed an authority to secure their rights, they long for equal treatment on several levels, and they were not interested in knowing the electricity market related matters in detail. The electricity crisis has created a feeling of insecurity, and someone was needed to provide stability and a feeling of safety for the household consumers.
The recommendation was that a well-known, impartial authority would take the lead and be the source of reliable and simplified information. That authority should fill the void that a transformational change has caused. The study suggests Nord Pool to take the role and provides ideas how to implement that in the company’s strategy.