What will the connection of the Baltic states to the European energy network mean for the electricity user? / Article

Rolands Irklis, chairman of the board of the operator of the Latvian electricity transmission system “Augstsprieguma tīkls”, said that since 2009 several infrastructure items have been built in Latvia to be able to connect to the European energy grid.

“For example, two connections with Finland, one connection with Sweden and one connection with Poland. The aim of the project is to synchronize with continental European systems through a connection between Lithuania and Poland. As that, from the European side, a catalog of measures has also been prepared, which we have to implement, and at the moment it is implemented by about 80%.. three in each country.

Since the start of the war with Russia against Ukraine, Latvia has completely stopped importing and exporting electricity with Russia and Belarus, and synchronization with Europe is the last step to to achieve the country’s independence in the field of electricity supply, which is essential for national security. . This was confirmed by the Minister of Climate and Energy, Kaspars Melnis (Greens and Farmers Union).

“The question is, why do we have to do it? It’s just for security, stability and for us to be able to provide for ourselves. Because we see what is happening in the world, what is happening in the neighboring countries, the dangers that exist now. maybe indicating that some situation could be, well, that’s one of the reasons why we’re changing so that there won’t be more threats like that in the future,” Melnis said.

To connect to the European energy network, Latvia invested almost half a billion or 465 million euros in investments.

Irklis, the head of “High voltage network”, said that most of this money was raised from EU funds, some of the costs are already included in the electricity price.

“More than 300 million euros were raised from European Union funds, more than 90 million euros were raised from congestion management revenue. In fact, the costs associated with the price are only about 70 million euros, we also include the interior. infrastructure strengthening projects such as the Kurzeme loop or, for example, the third Latvian-Estonian interconnection, which was built a few years ago, and of course its costs are included in the price already, so from January 1, 2026, if we look at end user accounts, this view could be around 0.1, 0.2%.

Where we will have additional costs from next year is related to the maintenance of these capacity reserves, but here too we will be in a common market – both in the Baltic market, and we will connect with markets European, so that it does not leave so little. impact as much as possible on Latvian and Baltic electricity consumers,” explained Irklis.

The Minister of Climate and Energy assessed that electricity prices will rise after joining the European energy network, but only slightly.

“In January, when the Estonian and Finnish “Estlink2” cables were damaged, which we used a lot, also actively buying and selling electricity all the time, and the price, yes, for a couple of days the market answered, taking into account the uncertainty of what will happen.

The increase in electricity, if there is one, will be very small, we are talking about literally two hundred percent.

But the question will be different – more how the traders use it. And what remains to be understood, when we talk about electricity prices, we have a lot of long-term contracts for several years and there the trader has already assessed these risks, and they are like- already priced in the current long-term contracts,” says Melnis.

Everyone will have the opportunity to know the prices of electricity for homes offered by traders, which currently change in a few euros, on the website “Energija24.lv”. Competition among traders is relatively high and this is good news for electricity consumers.

CONTEXT:

The Baltic states disconnect from the BRELL electricity supply loop, which connects Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia with Belarus and Russia, 8 of 2025 in February. The next day they connect to the European energy grid.

The three Baltic states are the last in the European Union not connected to the European power grid. The entire desynchronization project will cost 1.6 billion euros, and Estonia’s share is around 300 million euros.

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