“Reminder: Did you forget to freeze the price of electricity?”
Thus began the email that Fortum sent to customers on October 21st. They would offer customers a fixed price of NOK 5.72 for November and December.
By that time, the price of electricity had already fallen sharply from its peak in the fall.
In this period, the company itself was able to buy electricity on the market for November at NOK 2.60 and NOK 3.20 for December, according to electrical analyst Tor Reier Lilleholt in Volue. Figures apply gross of value added tax in southern Norway.
He can earn thousands per month on every customer
If you then add the value added tax for this, the price will be NOK 3.70 on average in the purchase price.
Lilleholt calculated that the profit on the fixed price would have to be around NOK 2 per customer if the electricity had been pre-purchased at that time.
Tor Reier Lilleholt is a power analyst at Volue.
Photo: Sondre Steen Holvik
– There is actually a 55 percent markup. It is absolutely insane. This is pretty extreme markup. But we see these prices fluctuate enormously right now, he exclaims over the phone as he watches the calculation.
The profit of a customer using 1,500 kilowatt hours per month means that the company earns NOK 3,000, given the calculations.
NRK asked communications manager Kristian Myrseth in Fortum about the deal.
– How would you comment on the big profit?
– The Prisfrys service has no consumption margins, only on the fixed connection. Buying futures contracts is a complex process that takes time and includes more factors than the system price, plus VAT must be factored into the price, he says.
Lilleholt took VAT into account in the calculation.
Allows customers to cancel the agreement
NRK spoke to a Fortum customer who accepted the offer and wonders if he can get out of the fixed price. It also currently does not receive support for electricity on the price because the spot price is too low.
In the email he received, there was nothing about a cooling off period. Los withdrew a deal Thursday because customers has not received sufficiently clear notice of the cancellation period, as required by the law on the right of cancellation.
Now Fortum is also following suit.
– Prisfrys customers have a 14-day right of withdrawal at the time of purchase of the service. We are now in an extraordinary situation and fully understand that customers may want to get out of the current freeze period, Myrseth tells NRK and continues:
– In light of the extraordinary situation we are in now, we have chosen to remove the obligation that the customer must purchase outside the current freeze period, he says.
– In this case, it will not be possible to go back if the prices were to increase. As it has proved difficult to predict price developments, we will be cautious in recommending the best course of action. Each individual has to evaluate it for himself.
