The transfer fee: what you pay for distribution

Three transfer products

Almost every operator offers households three basic products. Names vary by company, but the principle is the same.

• General transfer: the same fee day and night, all year. The lowest basic fee. Suits flats and homes without electric heating.
• Time-of-day transfer (night, two-rate, day-night): cheaper at night, usually 22:00–07:00, dearer by day. A higher basic fee. Suits storage heating and overnight car charging.
• Seasonal transfer: expensive on winter weekdays, 1 Nov to 31 Mar, Monday to Saturday 07:00–22:00, cheap otherwise. Suits direct electric heating if you can use other heating on winter days.

Watch the names: Savon Voima’s “aikasähkö”, for example, is priced by winter weekdays, not day and night. Helen’s and Kuopio’s time-of-day products also carry a power fee.

Transfer fees in the calculator’s networks

The table is sorted by a house’s annual cost. Note that the lowest transfer fee does not always mean the cheapest total, since the basic fee may be large, and vice versa.

How to choose the right product

The choice depends on how much you use and when. In a flat general transfer is almost always cheapest, and usually also in a house without electric heating. In an electrically heated house time-of-day or seasonal transfer starts to pay beyond a certain consumption, and the threshold falls the more of your use lands at night or other cheap times.

Each operator’s page shows the consumption at which night or seasonal transfer overtakes general transfer, and the products’ annual cost for three typical homes. For a comparison with your own figures use the transfer fee comparison calculator. Many operators also have their own product calculator.

Transfer fees and spot electricity

For a spot customer the transfer product affects which hour is cheapest all-in. On general transfer the cheapest hour is always the one with the cheapest spot price. On time-of-day transfer cheap night transfer can make a night hour cheapest even if spot is slightly lower in daytime. The home page calculator accounts for this in every quarter hour.

How do I know my operator?

The operator’s name is on your transfer bill. The calculator’s postcode field looks up your area’s operator in the Energy Authority postcode list. Several operators can share a postcode, so check the bill to be sure. Motiva explains more about how the transfer fee is made up and how you can influence your own transfer bill.