Russia “cut off the power” to Finland

Inter RAO’s Finnish subsidiary, RAO Nordic, said that Inter RAO has not received an electricity payment through the European electricity exchange Nord Pool since May 6 without any reason.

RAO Nordic said: “This is an exceptional situation, occurring for the first time in our more than 20 years of trading history.”

According to Fingrid, electricity from Russia only accounts for about 10% of Finland’s total electricity consumption. Photo: Fingrid

According to the announcement of the Finnish grid operator Fingrid, the power cut will begin at 1 a.m. on May 14 (local time).

“There is no threat to adequate electricity supply in Finland,” the company stressed. According to Fingrid, electricity from Russia accounts for about 10% of Finland’s total electricity consumption.

Fingrid said that the shortage of imported electricity in the market can be replaced by importing more electricity from Sweden and partly producing it domestically.

The European electricity exchange Nord Pool has not paid Inter RAO since May 6 for the electricity it buys from the Russian company.

Fingrid from 3 weeks ago prepared for the scenario where Russia cut off power to Finland by limiting one third of the transmission capacity.

Meanwhile, the statistics agency Rosstat (Russia) on May 13 said that Russia’s annual inflation rate in April jumped to 17.8%, a record high in two decades. The reason is partly due to the impact of Western sanctions after Russia carried out a military campaign in Ukraine.

According to Rosstat, food prices, a major concern for low-income Russians, increased in April by 20.5% year-on-year. Some food prices increased sharply such as fruits and vegetables at 33%, pasta at 29.6%, butter at 26.1%.

The Central Bank of Russia forecasts that inflation in 2022 could reach 23% before gradually decreasing next year and returning to the target level of 4% by 2024.