The security of electricity supply and the electrification of society were emphasised in the feedback we received on our development plan

In May, our customers had the opportunity to read and comment on our development plan extending to 2036 in the Elenia Avoin service. The feedback conveys a clear message: the security of electricity distribution is a basic prerequisite for increasingly electrified daily life and society, and expectations for the quality of electricity distribution have grown.

The customers who shared their views particularly emphasised the importance of reducing prolonged power outages and recurring short disruptions in electricity distribution. Most of the respondents considered the statutory 36-hour power outage limit to be too long. As many as 90% of the respondents stated that an acceptable maximum duration for a power outage would be 12 hours or less.

At the same time, a number of our customers recognise that the security of electricity supply has already improved in many areas. Underground cabling is seen as a key means of improving the security of supply, and its progress is seen as a positive trend. Some of the respondents expressed a desire for a faster rate of progress in underground cabling and more comprehensive implementation, especially in areas where overhead lines are still in use.

– In our network area, we have increased the underground cabling rate from approximately 23% to over 66% in just over a decade. Our goal is to achieve an underground cabling rate of 90% by 2036," says Chief Operations Officer Tommi Lähdeaho.

The feedback also clearly reflects the changes in daily life related to electrification and concerns about the adequacy of the electricity network’s capacity, as electricity consumption will increase in the future due to the clean transition.

– Concerns about capacity are a nationwide issue, and the challenges can be seen in distribution networks as well as the transmission network across Finland. In our network area alone, wind power, battery energy storage systems, industry and electric traffic will increase the demand for electricity distribution more than two-fold in the high-voltage network and more than six-fold in the medium-voltage network by 2036, Lähdeaho explains.

– It is our responsibility to ensure that the electricity network enables the growth of our customers’ electricity consumption and the electrification of society as a whole. This requires investments in the development of the electricity network. The total need for investments in our electricity network between 2026 and 2036 is EUR 2.3 billion. We will invest approximately EUR 130 million of that total this year, Lähdeaho adds.

On the whole, the respondents are of the view that the electricity network is being developed in the right direction. Improving the security of supply and capacity is considered necessary but, at the same time, there are concerns about costs. In spite of this, the majority of the respondents feel that they get value for their electricity network charges, and they hope that development efforts progress in a cost-efficient manner and at a faster pace than at present.

Raising the security of electricity supply to a new level by 2036

The security of supply of electricity distribution networks in Finland will rise to a new level by 2036. The transition period stipulated by the Electricity Market Act requires that, by the end of 2036, the electricity network must be weatherproof to such an extent that the duration of power outages does not exceed 36 hours in sparsely populated rural areas and six hours in urban areas.

All distribution system operators submit their development plans to the Energy Authority at two-year intervals. The process of preparing the development plans always includes the consultation of customers. The public had the opportunity to comment on Elenia's 2026 development plan in May via the Elenia Avoin service. About 12,000 people viewed our development plan and approximately 730 people sent us feedback on it.

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who viewed our development plan and visited the Elenia Avoin service!

• Elenia’s development plan 2026
• Elenia Avoin (in Finnish)