The Russian energy company Inter RAO cut off the electricity supply to Finland at dawn on Saturday (5/14/2022), through its subsidiary RAO Nordic Oy, alleging “problems receiving payments for the electricity sold”. This was reported by Fingrid, the Finnish company that manages the electricity grid.
RAO Nordic Oy had already warned that it was “forced to suspend the import of electricity from May 14”, at a time when tensions between Russia and Finland are growing, following the latter’s announcement that it could request its entry into NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
unpaid sales
RAO Nordic Oy said it “has been importing electricity from Russia to Finland and selling it to the Nord Pool exchange for many years,” noting that sales made since May 6 have yet to be credited with funds in its bank account. “We hope that the situation will improve soon and that electricity trade with Russia can be resumed,” the subsidiary of the Russian company added.
Finland, historical client
As Fingrid explained in a statement, the electricity imported from Russia accounts for around 10 percent of the total consumption of the Nordic country, so the supply is not threatened by this decision. “Missing imports can be replaced on the electricity market by importing more from Sweden and partly also through domestic production,” Reima Päivinen, Fingrid’s vice president of operations, said in the statement. Inter RAO is the only electricity import and export operator in Russia, and its main customer has historically been Finland.
MS (efe/afp)
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